Listverse: 10 Outrageous Broadcasts That Caused Mayhem

Listverse.com enumerates 10 broadcasts (from error, prank or publicity gimmickry) which sparked episodes of turmoil. [hat tip Lew Rockwell.com]

My favorite three…

#9 Sea Monster Attacks Tokyo
May 20, 1947

In a scene straight out of Godzilla, the US army’s radio station WVTR announced that a giant sea monster had risen off the coast of Tokyo and was rampaging its way toward the capital. Although the perpetrators intended the broadcast as a humorous part of their station’s anniversary celebration, it instead sparked panic among the local populace and the occupying forces, with US personnel and Japanese police mobilizing to track down the monster.

One British officer called to verify the station’s reports because his men were demanding weapons to fight the beast. According to one station member, even MacArthur himself called in to confirm their broadcast.

After the hoax was revealed, the US army’s top brass lambasted the perpetrators and removed them from the station. Although their fates were not announced after the debacle, they were likely sent to Korea afterward as punishment.

#7 The Sibuxiang Beast
September 19, 1994

Residents of Taiyuan in China’s north erupted into panic when a TV station reported that a terrible animal known as the “Sibuxiang Beast” was nearing their city. The frightened populace locked themselves up at home while others frantically called the authorities for help. Eventually, the beast did arrive—only in the form of a new brand of liquor.

The “Sibuxiang Beast” TV spot had been an ad. But viewers used to commercials mundanely narrating and presenting products had taken it as an actual news report.

Although Jing Huiwen, the owner of the advertising firm behind the commercial, was later forced to apologize and pay a fine, the overwhelming publicity turned the Sibuxiang brand into a household name and quadrupled the firm’s roster of clients. Foreign analysts hailed the event as the beginning of capitalist creativity in China. 

#1 War Of The Worlds (Ecuadorian Edition) 

February 12, 1949 

Residents of the Ecuadorian capital of Quito rioted after local station Quito Radio aired a Spanish dub of Orson Welles’s famous broadcast. People panicked in the streets, some running to the nearest church to hear a last service. However, fear quickly turned to rage after they realized that they had been hoodwinked. Consequently, a mob formed and set fire to the building that housed the radio station. They also ganged up on staff members who tried to escape the blaze.

The station suffered more than $300,000 in damages, and an estimated 6–20 people died. Only the arrival of the police and military ended the chaos.

In true urban legend fashion, it was said that the announcer who aired the broadcast, Leonardo Paez, was last seen standing on top of the burning building before disappearing. His daughter, however, later revealed that Paez understandably went under the radar for a while before having his case reviewed—and ultimately dismissed—by a court. After that, he relocated to Venezuela.

Pls read the entire list here.

Aside from the amusement aspect, the article demonstrates of the frailties of crowd psychology and their vulnerability to ‘trusted’ sources of information. 

Prior to the internet age, where information dissemination has been mostly centralized, it is easy to understand the public’s sensitivity to centralized information.

In the information age, this should unlikely be the case.

But not for the Philippines which has a cameo role here...

#3 Philippines Flesh-Eating Disease Hoax
February 24, 2014

In a classic case of mass hysteria with a modern twist, residents of the Philippines province of Pangasinan and netizens erupted into hysteria after linking an Indian preacher’s April 2013 prophecy about a flesh-eating disease to two patients with a “mysterious illness.” It didn’t help that that the country’s leading news station, ABS-CBN, investigated the incident and had its reporter wear full protective gear while interviewing the patients.

While local residents understandably panicked, the response took on epic proportions on the Internet, as evidenced by 80,000 Twitter users who hashtagged “#PrayforPangasinan.”

Eventually, health authorities who closely examined the two patients disclosed that they were suffering from nothing more than leprosy and psoriasis respectively. This revelation forced the news station to issue an apology, although they also stated that they really just wanted to find out if the flesh-eating disease was real or not.

The internet age should have provided the public opportunities to investigate on the validity of such sensationalist claims. Unfortunately, this “classic case of mass hysteria with a modern twist” looks like a sorry state of affair where social media has functioned instead as loudspeakers for misinformation. This also reveals of the gullibility of the so-called local netizens to populist-tabloid journalism.

As British essayist Gilbert Keith Chesterton once wrote

Journalism is popular, but it is popular mainly as fiction. Life is one world, and life seen in the newspapers another; the public enjoys both, but it is more or less conscious of the difference.