Power in the Media

 How is the War of the Worlds example of 1938 a good example of audiences relating to a media product? What was the context of this event? 

The slot being part of the Mercury on the air theatre segment helped to target listeners who enjoyed theatre and drama. His voice was used as the voice over, so it allowed it to be familiar to some listeners. The way it was designed made it seem real realistic to audiences and may have made some audiences scared. like the use of a panicked voice and mentions of real New York locations. Like how the Hypodermic needle theory suggests that message is received and wholly accepted by the receiver, the audience becomes a passive audience as the story is so relatable and real they don't even question it being fiction. The reactions of the audiences vary from being subtle to quite over exaggerated. We can identify the exaggeration through how the step theory states that messages are influenced by the media, as the radio air was mentioned in the local newspaper, and the newspaper being a competitor, they would've exaggerated how terrible the after effects were. As people seemed to believe that the report was foreshadowing a possible invasion by the Germans, the audiences had taken a dominant approach to Stuart Halls theory as they take on the intended message Orson was trying to represent.