For this assignment you will need to read Broadcast Hysteria: Orson Welles’s War of the Worlds and the Art of Fake News by A. Brad Schwartz and listen to the War of the Worlds broadcast and write an argumentative essay using the book, the broadcast, and other course materials. You must argue that radio broadcasting was either beneficial or detrimental to American society during the 1920s and 30s. Do not try to argue that it was both beneficial and detrimental, rather pick one side and support it with examples.
Your paper should be 4 to 5 pages long, typed, and doubled spaced. You do not need to cite materials from the lectures. Quotes from the radio broadcast can just be cited as “War of the Worlds radio broadcast,” and material from the book should be cited parenthetically with a page number. If you do use any sources outside of the course materials, you need to provide a full citation for the material. While you do not need a specific number of examples from the book or radio show, you must have at least one example from each.