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In 1938 a radio drama told American listeners that Martians were landing in New Jersey. The story that it sent the country into mass hysteria is largely a newspaper invention — very few people actually panicked.

War of the Worlds, 30 October 1938

Why it matters

The idea in context

Ratings show the audience was small; the popular show on a rival station took most listeners that night. Newspapers, losing advertising to radio, ran hundreds of stories about mobs and suicides that could not be verified afterwards. Some listeners were certainly alarmed, and a few rang the police — but nothing like a national stampede. The tale endured because it is a better story than the truth, which is itself a decent lesson in how panics get made.

Türkçe

Aynı kart, başka bir dilde.

1938'de bir radyo oyunu, Amerikalı dinleyicilere Marslıların New Jersey'e indiğini anlattı. Ülkeyi kitlesel histeriye sürüklediği anlatısı büyük ölçüde bir gazete uydurmasıdır — gerçekte çok az kişi panikledi.

Dünyalar Savaşı, 30 Ekim 1938

Ölçümler dinleyici kitlesinin küçük olduğunu gösteriyor; o gece rakip bir istasyondaki popüler program dinleyicilerin çoğunu aldı. Reklam gelirini radyoya kaptıran gazeteler, sonradan doğrulanamayan güruhlar ve intiharlar hakkında yüzlerce haber yaptı. Bazı dinleyiciler kuşkusuz telaşlandı ve birkaçı polisi aradı — ama ulusal bir izdihamdan söz edilemez. Anlatı, gerçekten daha iyi bir öykü olduğu için kalıcı oldu; bu da paniklerin nasıl üretildiğine dair iyi bir ders.

Source trail

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Background reading: The War of the Worlds (1938 radio drama)Attribution and context are revised when stronger evidence appears. Corrections are welcome through the editorial page.

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Next in the open archiveBefore John Glenn orbited Earth in 1962, he did not trust the electronic computer's numbers. He asked for Katherine Johnson to work the trajectory by hand — and said if she agreed the figures were right, he was ready to go.Q1629

In 1938 a radio drama told American listeners that Martians were landing in New Jersey. The story that it sent the country into mass hysteria is largely a newspaper invention — very few people actually panicked.

The idea in context

Aynı kart, başka bir dilde.

Read beyond the card.

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