The 'War of the Worlds' panic was likely anti-radio propaganda — and the same logic drives AI doomer media coverage
AlexTensor · x · 2026-09-20
Louis Anslow resurfaces his Pessimists Archive essay arguing that media folks treat AI as an existential threat to their own industry, which explains the doomer coverage — the same pattern as newspapers attacking radio, their new rival, in 1938.
The piece revisits the famous War of the Worlds broadcast: sensational headlines claimed mass hysteria, suicides, and a fatal heart attack, prompting an FCC probe and a congressional bill. Later research (Slate, 2013) found the panic likely never happened — ratings data suggest only 2% of surveyed households were even listening, and no deaths were ever corroborated.
Takeaway: panic narratives about new media are often manufactured by incumbents with competitive stakes, a useful lens for reading AI coverage today.
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