Early radio news and the origins of the risk society

Specific characteristics of broadcast radio communication, especially the combination of breadth of exposure, intimacy and immediacy, provide a theoretical basis to account for the significant effects of the 1930s’ radio coverage of the Lindbergh kidnapping and trial on the cohort group that was directly exposed. The effects of the kidnapping and its extensive news coverage are examined through the explanatory models of moral panic, risk society and para-social trauma. The public’s adoration of the Lindbergh baby allowed it a displaced participation in the intimate life of an American hero, a pattern still commonly seen today in the high level of media attention given to the births of celebrity children. The Lindbergh baby helped the public to affirm (through millions of casual conversations, many letters to newspapers and frequent media representations) its precious child formation at a time when economic realities threatened this ideal. In 1932, radio news coverage of the Lindbergh crime gave the audience an experience that was simultaneously more intimate and more immediate than the print-based crime news that had come before. These special characteristics of the radio-listening experience lent a new dimension to the public’s reaction to one family’s tragedy and contributed to a profound reassessment of the level of risk the American society posed to its children. After the Lindbergh kidnapping, much of the American public, especially American parents, would view everyday society as a much riskier place for their children.