>It would be interesting if something similar was tried today. Imagine if a drama was dropped into TV and radio and internet without the usual adverts etc and wrapped up as "news". I think people would still fall for it and with the way we consume news now the numbers taken in would be greater and the results catastrophic. Maybe "weapons of mass destruction" was that Welles guy or his modern equivalent all along.

Indeed. "There's a sucker born every minute". It was true then, it is true now. Ignorance, stupidity and lack of critical thinking are just as rampant today as in the past.