@Lacci @mcc Mainstream journalism, especially video and audio (can we still say "television and radio" unironically?) are especially concerned with narrative and of fitting news events into narratives.

(Edward Jay Epstein's News From Nowhere (1973) is a dated but excellent detailing of this: https://archive.org/details/newsfromnowheret0000epst)

In the current case, a problem is that the story doesn't fit established or acceptable (though whether to the audience or editors isn't clear) narratives, AND that narrative-busting is becoming its own narrative. That is, "unprecedented" isn't just hand-wringing over "we don't know how to tell this story" but it's a major framing of the story.

That said ...

... it still strikes me as a cheap out, distraction, and ultimately fluff. I've been taking @jayrosen_nyu's advice to focus on #StakesNotOdds, and to dig into why this matters and what potential outcomes or consequences might be.

I'm ... more than slightly tired of hearing on-the-street interviews with brainwashed zombies, and partisan shouting matches. Then again, I'm also ducking most news though I'll catch headlines (either reading or listening via podcasts) a few times a week. News burnout is real, and mine dates at least to the 2012 US election cycle, if not before.

#uspol