J201 Introduction to mass communication Greg Downey gdowney wisc edu 608 225 3809 www journalism wisc edu gdowney mass communication processes purposes mass media producers technologies products mass society effects audiences cultures What might we talk about in a mass communication class Can you identify any current events or issues linked to mass communication that we might use as case studies in a class like this The most critical mass communication issue of our age The most critical mass communication issue of our age Teletubbies Anne Wood founder and Andy Davenport scriptwriter of Ragdoll Productions 1997 premiered on BBC UK 1998 premiered on PBS US 2003 seen by one billion children in 120 countries across four continents Filmed on location in England adapted to US Why Teletubbies Targets a previously untapped audience one year olds Wood babies are growing up in a technological world so we wanted to make a world that was safe and also in some way technological play technology supplies their every need no adults like Sesame Street tummies become TV screens that light up cyborgs Now even has an interactive web site http pbskids org teletubbies teletubbyland html Research behind the Teletubbies little children watch television in a radically different way than older children and grown ups watch We employ full time testers and our research goes on all the time when children are watching television they are not vegetating We never teach children to say Eh oh that s just the way the Teletubbies say it Teletubbies in trouble 1999 American Academy of Pediatrics advised parents to not let children aged 2 and under watch any television 1999 Spanish police arrest ed fifteen men who had set up a fake Teletubbies doll manufacturing business 1999 Fundamentalist Christian leader Jerry Falwell wrote that Tinky Winky was a gay role model Today Google Video YouTube and Teletubbies fan remixes Can the study of mass communication help us make sense of all this
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