Curated News
By: NewsRamp Editorial Staff
October 15, 2026
Orson Welles' 1938 Panic Revisited: Author Hazelgrove on Media Trust
TLDR
- Hazelgrove's Dead Air and Hill op-ed position him as a leading voice on media credibility and the iconic War of the Worlds broadcast.
- Hazelgrove examines how Welles used simulated news reports to exploit radio's authority and create panic during a tense era.
- By revisiting the 1938 panic, Hazelgrove sparks vital discussions on trust and misinformation to build a more informed tomorrow.
- In 1938, Orson Welles's War of the Worlds broadcast convinced some listeners that aliens had invaded, revealing radio's power to blur fact and fiction.
Impact - Why it Matters
The 1938 <em>War of the Worlds</em> broadcast remains a touchstone for understanding how easily fear can override skepticism, especially when delivered through a trusted medium. In today's fractured media landscape, where misinformation spreads instantly and audiences struggle to separate fact from performance, Hazelgrove's examination of the original panic offers vital lessons. It reminds us that the authority of a message often depends as much on its format and the anxiety of its audience as on its evidence. By revisiting this historic event, we gain insight into the psychological and structural vulnerabilities that make societies susceptible to false narratives—and how those same vulnerabilities persist, amplified by modern technology. This news matters because it invites a timely conversation about credibility, trust, and the power of storytelling in an age of deepfakes and viral deception.
Summary
National bestselling author William Elliott Hazelgrove is bringing the infamous 1938 Orson Welles War of the Worlds broadcast back into the spotlight with a series of high-profile media appearances and a forthcoming op-ed in The Hill scheduled for October 30—the 88th anniversary of the original panic. Hazelgrove, whose book Dead Air: The Night That Orson Welles Terrified America was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal as a "granular history and richly anecdotal," is set to appear on WGN Radio with John Landecker on October 28, WCPT 820 with Richard Chew on October 30, and WDCB with Gary Zidek on October 20. He will also present at the Wheaton Library on October 28 at 7 p.m.
At the heart of Hazelgrove's work is an exploration of how the authority of a trusted medium, a nation on edge, and the power of dramatic storytelling combined to make an imaginary alien invasion feel terrifyingly real. The book follows the creation of the broadcast, Welles's extraordinary ambition, and contemporary accounts of frightened listeners who believed catastrophe was unfolding. Drawing on newspaper reports, Hazelgrove argues the reaction went beyond isolated confusion, offering a view inside the CBS studio and the alarm outside it. The Wall Street Journal praised the book, which also earned a starred review from Booklist.
Hazelgrove's Hill op-ed will examine what the 1938 broadcast tells us today about media credibility, misinformation, and trust. As audiences grapple with distinguishing reporting from performance, the anniversary serves as a compelling starting point for discussing how fear can overtake skepticism and why the format of a message sometimes carries as much authority as its evidence. Hazelgrove is available for interviews on Welles, the panic debate, and the making of the broadcast. Dead Air is published by Rowman & Littlefield, now part of Bloomsbury.
Source Statement
This curated news summary relied on content distributed by 24-7 Press Release. Read the original source here, Orson Welles' 1938 Panic Revisited: Author Hazelgrove on Media Trust
