Research Catalog

Title

The Martians have landed! : a history of media-driven panics and hoaxes / Robert E. Bartholomew and Benjamin Radford.

Author

Bartholomew, Robert E.

Publication

Jefferson, N.C. : McFarland, c2012.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Additional Authors

Radford, Benjamin, 1970-

Description

vi, 248 p. : ill.; 23 cm.

Summary

"This book presents more than three dozen studies of media scares from the 17th to the 21st century, including hoaxes perpetrated via newspapers, radio, television and cyberspace. It explores hoaxes that highlight the impact of the media on our lives and its tendency to sensationalize. Several cases are global in scope, revealing the the power global media wields"--Provided by publisher.

Subject

• Mass media > Psychological aspects
• Hoaxes in mass media
• Mass media > Influence

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

It came from the airwaves-radio. The London Riot hoax -- Radio daze-the martian invasion broadcast -- The martians return -- Infamous disc jockey hoaxes -- Playing with fire: nuclear scares -- It came from the small screen-television -- "This just in -- " NBC frightens viewers -- "Look! up in the sky!" asteroid panic -- Pokemon panics and creepy crawley scares -- The "documentary" that fooled England -- Hurricane Katrina mythmaking -- Chicken little and the Bird Flu panic -- The Russians are coming! -- The video nasties scare / Peter Hassall -- It came from ink-newspapers. The Batmen on the moon hoax -- The Central Park Zoo panic -- The Halley's Comet scare of 1910 -- How the press created an imaginary terrorist -- The hook hoax -- The ghost slasher of Taiwan -- The phantom clown panic -- It came from cyberspace-the Internet. Chemtrails and conspiracies -- Morgellons: the first Internet disease? -- Katrina evacuee myths -- The e-mail virus panic / Bill Ellis -- It came from a friend of a friend-media-spread urban legends. Urban legends and the media -- The curse of the crying boy / David Clarke -- Photos of the gods / David Clarke -- It came from everywhere. The satanic cult scare -- Halloween panics -- Stranger danger and the predator next door -- The school safety panic -- "Out of the water!" media shark frenzy -- The great Puerto Rican chupacabra panic -- YouTube, popcorn and the killer cell phones -- Someone stole my kidney! organ theft scares -- Killer vaccines / Felicity Goodyear-Smith and Helen Petousis-Harris.

ISBN

• 9780786464982 (softcover : alk. paper)
• 0786464984 (softcover : alk. paper)

LCCN

^^2011037370

OCLC

706409852

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library