Analysis of Coverage Linking Phish to the Grateful Dead
MEDIA FRAMING AS BRAND POSITIONING: ANALYSIS OF COVERAGE LINKING PHISH TO THE GRATEFUL DEAD A Dissertation Submitted to the Temple University Graduate Board In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Mass Media and Communication School of Communications and Theater By Jordan McClain May, 2011 Committee Members: Michael Maynard (chair), Ph.D., Associate Professor, Mass Media & Communication Fabienne Darling-Wolf, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Mass Media & Communication Cornelius Pratt, Ph.D., Professor, Mass Media & Communication Paul D’Angelo (external reader), Ph.D., Associate Professor, Communication Studies ! i! © by Jordan McClain 2011 All Rights Reserved ! ii! ABSTRACT This dissertation uses mass communication research about framing and positioning to explore media framing as brand positioning and analyze coverage that links the band Phish to the Grateful Dead. Based on content analysis, textual analysis, and interviews, this dissertation explores the framing of Phish—formed in Vermont in 1983 and often compared or connected to the Grateful Dead, a band formed in California in 1965— in a popular mainstream music magazine and beyond, placing particular interest in how this framing intersects with positioning the band vis-à-vis the Grateful Dead. By exploring framing of a commercially-oriented subject that media coverage regularly constructs in terms of or in relation to another more recognizable subject, this project aims to contribute to mass communication theory and our understanding of media in society. Through comprehension of media about Phish and Phish/Grateful Dead connections, this dissertation studies how, why, and with what result stories are told through such associative coverage.
[Show full text]