79th Anniversary of well-known Fake News: War of the Worlds Radio Broadcast

by Angela K. Durden
Technology inventor protecting creator's copyrights. Business writer, novelist, songwriter, and Citizen Journalist.

In 1938 on this day, October 30th, the War of the Worlds radio broadcast turned out to be a big fat nothing for CBS with my bads all around and the FCC censuring broadcasters urging them to be a bit more responsible in what they presented. 

But didn't stop Ol' Hitler, no sirree. That master of spin sure knew how to turn fake news into propaganda.

Look what he did for the Volkswagen.

Of course, Hitler didn't care that the headlines were fake news citing the mass hysteria as proof-positive that America was full of corruption and decadence.

Not exactly sure how he managed that, but he did get a nation to kill over eleven million, so...

Anyway, no. There was no nationwide mass hysteria. Most folks weren't freaking out. Yes, a very few folks did wonder if it was real but most of them lived in New Jersey. A few folks called police and CBS with questions like, "Hey, dude, is this for real or just a joke?" 

The Mercury Theatre on the Air couldn't have drummed up mass hysteria even if it wanted to because nobody was listening to the show since simply everybody was all tuned in to the runaway hit The Chase and Sanborn Hour.

Who could pass up Charlie McCarthy and Edgar Bergen with W.C. Fields, right?

But did that stop editors — eager to sell more papers — from running the fake news?

It did not and within days 12,500 newspapers across the nation had it on their front page. 

And thus the legend was born and entered the status of urban legend as truth.