Welcome back all to another session of Lets Talk IMC. This week I bring you a lesson from Tom Brennen, talking about the role the news plays in our lives and how willing we are to believe.
Back in the 1930s the only form of news was from your radio. You didn’t have video and could only rely on what the reporter told you. People put all their trust in to reporters and believed what they where being told by the reporters cause if it was on the radio it had to be true. Because of the people faith in radio something as small as five-minute time delay could cause a major incident.
On October 30th, 1938, a dramatized news radio broadcast sent thousands of Americans in to mass hysteria when they “reported” that aliens had landed on earth and were here to invade us. The hour before the broadcast their was a ventriloquist (a funny thing to have on radio) preforming and his broadcast ran five minuets over, causing all who were listening to miss the disclaimer at the beginning of the fake news cast.
For the full story you can read it at Transparency Now or listen to the actual broadcast on Youtube.
This shows how important it is for people to show some common sense when it comes to the things that reporters tell us. A five-minute delay cause mass hysteria and even people to commit suicide instead of facing the “aliens”.
In today’s media, we are a lot more cynical in what we believe and it is harder to misunderstand thanks video. Now we can see what’s going instead of relying solely on what we are told. While there are still ways for information to be distorted and misunderstood, it is easier for us as viewers find out the truth and not sink deep into mass panic. Thanks again everyone and I hope you come back next week to learn a little more about IMC.
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