Fake News (Thank Goodness!)

This is a MediaNote Classic. It was originally presented to MC101 students in January 2019.

On the night of Feb. 25, 1942, the Los Angeles Area was under attack from enemy aircraft. Or was it? A little more than 10 weeks after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and several days after a Japanese submarine shelled an oil field just north of Santa Barbara, an unidentified object floated over Los Angeles. Citizens panicked. Civil defense mobilized. Anti-aircraft guns were fired. And CBS radio reported on a possible attack. In the years since, it has become clear that if there was anything in the skies over Los Angeles that night, it was perhaps an errant weather balloon or small blimp.

Questions...

•How well or badly did CBS radio do in reporting this story?

•Why did radio news have a more difficult time covering this story accurately than the newspapers?

•Would today's social media make sure the story was reported accurately, or would it have added to the hysteria?