Facts and Figures:

• The War of the Worlds was an episode of the radio series “The Mercury Theatre on the Air”, this was a radio series of live dramas which were created and hosted by Orson Welles in the United States and was originally released on July 11th to December 4th 1938.
• “The War of the Worlds” was specifically a Halloween radio episode which was performed and broadcasted live at 8pm until 9pm on October 30th 1938 and ran for 60 minutes (1 hour).
• “The War of the Worlds” episode instigated panic by convincing members of the public that specific events were taking place such as a Martian invasion although the episode only had few listeners so this did not become a global panic.
• According to Wikipedia, 6 million people heard the episode and caused 1.2 million to be frightened and disturbed. Although 30 minutes into the show before its first break, people still believed this.

Media Institutions:

• The episode was broadcasted over the CBS (Columbia Broadcasting company Radio Network. This radio network provided news to more than 1,000 radio stations throughout the United States and is owned by Paramount Global. CBS Radio was launched in 1927.

Linked Theories

Gerbner cultivation theory and behavioural psychology.

Mean World Syndrome, War of the worlds illustrates an example of this theory, it cultivates a heightened sense of fear in society. A society still relatively new to radio, many people would be listening with blind naiveness, watching and consuming this form of media not knowing what is true or not, so the more they listened to it, the more likely they were to hold a view of reality that is closer to radios depiction, to unsuspecting listeners, they were victims to fake news and a deception of reality.

The radio drama episode believed the stories which were mentioned were true, by interrupting music mid broadcast for strange alien encounters.

The hypodermic needle theory links to war of the worlds as it supports the idea that people are passive consumers and are victims to the tremendous influence of the early stages of media. Proven by quotations such as: “rushed out of their houses” to escape the “gas raid”.

Cultivation theory links as the newly heavy influence of new media production has had a large influence on the public as people actually rose to believe the radio and it’s scary nature. It can explain the nature of the hysteria. Gerbner’s research suggested heavy users of television become more susceptible to its messages, especially if the texts resonate with the viewer.