In 1938, one radio broadcast made Americans think the world was ending: The incredible true story behind the 'War of the Worlds' panic

Late on an autumn evening in 1938, many Americans settled down beside their radios expecting an ordinary night of entertainment. Radio had become the country's most trusted source of news and information. Families relied on it for election results, breaking events and speeches from political leaders. That sense of trust created an unusual moment in broadcasting history when a fictional drama briefly blurred the line between entertainment and reality. Listeners who tuned in at the wrong moment believed they were hearing urgent reports of an unfolding national emergency. The programme would later become one of the best-known examples of misinformation in modern media history, raising questions that still feel surprisingly familiar whenever false stories spread quickly through new forms of communication.How the 1938 US radio broadcast blurred fiction and reality As reported by the BBC, the programme was an adaptation of The War of the Worlds, H. G. Wells' famous science fiction novel about an invasion from Mars. It aired on 30 October 1938 as part of the Mercury Theatre on the Air series, led by the young actor and director Orson Welles.Rather than presenting the story as a straightfo...