War of the Worlds to Social Media
Mediated Communication in Times of Crisis
Edited by Joy Elizabeth Hayes, Kathleen Battles, Wendy Hilton-Morrow
Synopsis
Seventy-five years after the infamous broadcast, does War of the Worlds still matter? Contributors revisit the broadcast event in order to reconsider its place as a milestone in media history, and to explore its role as a formative event for understanding citizens’ media use in times of crisis. Uniquely focused on the continuities between radio’s «new» media moment and our contemporary era of social media, the collection takes War of the Worlds as a starting point for investigating key issues in twenty-first-century communication, including: the problem of misrepresentation in mediated communication; the importance of social context for interpreting communication; and the dynamic role of listeners, viewers and users in talking back to media producers and institutions. By examining the «crisis» moment of the original broadcast in its international, academic, technological, industrial, and historical context, as well as the role of contemporary new media in ongoing «crisis» events, this volume demonstrates the broad, historical link between new media and crisis over the course of a century.
Contents
Introduction
Kathleen Battles, Joy Elizabeth Hayes, Wendy Hilton-Morrow
PART ONE: Looking Backward: War of the Worlds, Media Power, and Audiences “Talking Back”
- Chapter 1: Exchange and Interconnection in US Network Radio: A Reinterpretation of the 1938 War of the Worlds Broadcast — Joy Elizabeth Hayes and Kathleen Battle
- Chapter 2: War of the Words: The Invasion from Mars and its Legacy for Mass Communication Scholarship — Jefferson Pooley and Michael J. Socolow
- Chapter 3: Assassination, Insurrection and Alien Invasion: Interwar Wireless Scares in Cross-National Comparison — Kate Lacey
- Chapter 4: Receiving the War of the Worlds “Panic” from Across the Atlantic: British Press and Public Responses in 1938 (and Since) — Neil Washbourne
PART TWO: Backward and Forward: Media Forms, Conventions, and Crisis<
- Chapter 5: Network Radio’s Greatest Test: CBS News’ Coverage of the D-Day Invasion — Wendy Hilton-Morrow
- Chapter 6: War of the Worlds as a Radio News Training Tool —Keith Somerville
- Chapter 7: Body Contact: Interconnection and Embodiment in Howard Stern’s 9/11 Radio Broadcast — Joy Elizabeth Hayes and Dana Gravesen
- Chapter 8: Mediating Misinformation: Hoaxes and the Digital Turn — Zack Stiegler and Brandon Szuminsky
PART THREE: Looking Forward: War of the Worlds and Social Media
- Chapter 9: War of Worlds? Alternative and Mainstream Journalistic Practices in Coverage of the “Arab Spring” Protests —Diana Bossio and Saba Bebawi
- Chapter 10: Social Media Curation and Journalistic Reporting on the “Arab Spring” — Vittoria Sacco, Marco Giardina and Katarina Stanoevska-Slabeva
- Chapter 11: Microblogging and Crises: Information Needs and Online Narratives During Two “Bombing” Events in Nairobi, Kenya — Melissa Tully
- Chapter 12: Risk, Crisis, and Mobilization in the Twitter Use of US Senatorial Candidates in 2010 — Adam Rugg
Reviews:
This fascinating volume traces the rich themes of new media, crisis and interactivity from the ‘War of the Worlds’ broadcast to now, but even more importantly, these smart and engaged essays demonstrate strikingly just how well carefully researched media history can illuminate the present. (David Goodman, University of Melbourne)
As a whole the book represents a thoughtful read for anyone who wants to dig a bit deeper, and a wonderful resource for those who want to stimulate debate in a class or reading group. The authors convincingly show that a historical grasp is essential to understand contemporary issues in the present, and that the narratives of the past can disguise just as much as they reveal. (Tim Wall, Birmingham City University)
In this wonderful collection, the ‘War of the Worlds’ broadcast represents, variously, the founding object of study in an emerging communication-industrial complex, a training tool for covering twenty-first century wars, and a template for understanding crisis communications ever since. A must-read for anyone interested in the symbiotic relationship between new communication technologies and the crises they mediate. (Jason Loviglio, University of Maryland, Baltimore County)
