In den 1970ern lief im deutschen Fernsehen der Film:

Die Nacht, als die Marsmenschen Amerika angriffen.

Originaltitel:
The Night That Panicked America.

(1975) | Science Fiction-Film, Drama | 92 Minuten

https://archive.org/details/night-that-panicked-america-1975

Damals, 1938, ein Halloweenscherz, der, ein Jahr vor Beginn des zweiten Weltkrieges, außer Kontrolle geriet.
An diesen Fernsehfilm mußte ich denken, als ich vom Ballon-Drama über Nordamerika las.
Damals Marsmenschen, heute Aliens? Damals Scherz, heute Ablenkung von was?

The telefilm dramatizes events surrounding Orson Welles' famous - and infamous - War of the Worlds radio broadcast (based on the 1898 novel of the same name by English author H. G. Wells) of October 30, 1938, which had led some Americans to believe that an invasion by Martians was occurring in the area near Grover's Mill in West Windsor, New Jersey. (...)

The Night That Panicked America tells the story of the 1938 broadcast from the point of view of Welles and his associates as they create the broadcast live, as well as from the points of view of a number of different fictional American families, in a variety of locations and from a variety of social classes, who listened to the broadcast and believed the imaginary Martian invasion was actually occurring, with some people even committing suicide.
https://www.wikiwand.com/en/The_Night_That_Panicked_America

Dieser ältere Film schildert den gleichen Sachverhalt:

The Night America Trembled 1957 - H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jeW30vLwds&t=56s

The film centers on the panic created when The Mercury Theater on the Air presented a radio adaptation of an 1897 H. G. Wells science fiction novel, The War of the Worlds. In spite of many pre-broadcast promotions describing the play, and several statements during the program itself, the 1938 broadcast, which featured simulated news reports, was taken seriously by a number of listeners, who thought an actual Martian invasion of Earth was taking place, and reacted in a doomsday fashion.
https://www.wikiwand.com/en/The_Night_America_Trembled

--
Der Streusand-Effekt reduziert nicht die Rutschgefahr!