The Martians Have Landed!: A History of Media-Driven Panics and Hoaxes

Sociologist Robert Bartholomew and writer Ben Radford look at the history of media scares. Radio, television and newspapers have a long history of causing undue alarm. The newcomer on the block – the internet – is quickly gaining a similar reputation. From the 1835 ‘Batmen on the Moon Hoax’ to recent Bird Flu scares and Hurricane Katrina myths, this book contains colorful case studies that highlight the impact of the media on our lives and its tendency to sensationalize. A single shark attack off a popular beach may generate headlines for weeks, yet each day over 40,000 people – mostly women and children, die of starvation and poverty-related diseases – news which rarely makes headlines. Such is the nature of the mass media with its focus on the unusual and the sensational. Many examples are examined: •In 1910, the Washington Post and New York Times triggered global fears that earth’s May 18 rendezvous with Halley’s Comet, would poison the atmosphere with deadly cyanogen gas, killing millions. Some stuffed rags into doorways, window cracks and keyholes; others hoarded oxygen cylinders and sealed themselves in their cellars. •Pandemonium broke out in Ecuador in February 1949 after a radio play about invading aliens sparked bloody riots in Quito. Once residents realized the broadcast was a drama, a mob burned down the radio station, killing fifteen people including the drama’s mastermind. Soldiers and police were slow to restore order as most were in the nearby town of Cotocallao to repel the ‘Martians.’ •In 1982, an Illinois disc-jockey caused alarm after broadcasting reports that a local nuclear power plant had expelled a cloud of radioactivity. Nine years later, a Missouri DJ interrupted music with: "Attention, attention. This is an official civil defense warning. This is not a test. The United States is under nuclear attack." These are two of several stunts by DJs hoping to boost ratings or make political statements—stunts that backfired, landing their creators in trouble. •Since the late 1990s, internet websites have fueled global speculation that the United States government is conducting secret experiments by dispersing mysterious chemicals into our skies. The chemtrail scare reflects longstanding government mistrust and recent fears over global warming. • In the wake of Hurricane Katrina in September 2005, there were sensational media reports of mayhem and mob rule in New Orleans: of children with their throats slit, gangs roaming the Superdome raping and killing terrified evacuees, and a surge in murders and serious looting. Interviews with witnesses and a check of police records, portray a very different picture. Radio incidents include the London Riot Hoax in England and Ireland during 1926 perpetrated on the BBC by announcer Ronald Knox. Another incident involves the 1938 Martian Invasion Broadcast across the US and Canada. Southern Sweden was the scene of a panic in 1973 after a radio announcement about an accident at a nuclear power plant. Nine years later, a radio station in Illinois broadcast a pre-recorded play about a leak at a nearby nuclear plant, telling listeners that a radioactive cloud was drifting toward Springfield. TV scares have also been recorded. On the evening of March 20, 1983, hundreds of Americans became frightened during a broadcast of the NBC Sunday Night Movie, “Special Bulletin,” about a news team covering a terrorist threat to detonate a nuclear bomb in South Carolina. The movie won an Emmy, but prompted a barrage of angry calls from viewers who felt they had been duped by the use of realistic props including live reports from the scene, to the point of inserting bogus commercials. In October 1994, the CBS Sunday night movie “Without Warning,” prompted a barrage of phone calls to station affiliates by viewers fearful that an asteroid cluster was about to strike earth. The film was broadcast as a news program, confusing many. After an initial warning that many viewers missed, the