How Are They Similar? Essay Samples

Discussion Questions for War of the Worlds

There was competition for listeners between “Mercury Theater” and “Chase and Sanborn.” At the time that the announcement that it was a play was made, most listeners were actually listening to “The Chase and Sanborn Hour” and did not tune into “Mercury Theater” until the musical break. This means that the first thing those listeners heard were the eye witness accounts, and not the announcement by Wells.
He did it to engage people’s worst fears. He knew they were vulnerable, because of the Depression and other disasters, and that they were skeptical, waiting for the next major disaster, by allowing those very real fears into enter into his radio program, he engaged the people’s most vulnerable emotions.
He stalled for more than 10 minutes, encouraging people’s panic and response, instead of calming it. People were already packing their bags, and running.
He said “Of course we are deeply shocked and deeply regretful of the results of last night's broadcast” He also said “I can't imagine an invasion from mars would find ready acceptance.” Though these responses were likely not genuine and just an effort to save his career. In reality, he was quite proud of his work.
That people believed in it. It defied logic and spoke volumes about the people that were believing it. In short the listeners were blamed.

They are both used as the primary source of people’s media exposure, or information gathering, during their era.
How are they different?
People have the ability to search the internet, while they do not radio. You cannot use the radio to look for a specific answer to a specific question at the exact moment you think of it.
Do lessons learned from the [War of the Worlds radio program historical event] apply to today’s internet? What are they?