I have been hearing the word narrative thrown around a lot in the news and in counter-news articles.
umm, reality isn’t a storybook – so what does this even mean?
Note: I did a quick search about narrative first and found only [one relevant eli5](https://redd.it/b8utov), but I don’t understand it… so if we’re actually talking about the same thing then I need an ELI5 on their ELI5
In: Culture
There are, in any given story, literally infinite facts that you can focus on, but only finite time to talk about them. So for a story about a shooting, do you talk about the shooter’s religion, or his political views, or his mental health, or the color of his hair, or the temperature that day, or anything else?
News organizations have to make a choice on what to focus on. There’s only one front page, and a headline can only be a few words long. So, as an editor, do you make the headline “White man shoots 10 black people” or “atheist shoots 10 church goers”? “Mentally disturbed man goes on rampage” or “Gun enthusiast goes on rampage”?
The facts you focus on determine your narrative. Was this the story of an evil white man brutally murdering 10 innocent black people? Or was this the story of a mentally disturbed kid who acted out in the worst possible way? And the narrative of this story generally fits into a larger narrative about the world.
Some news outlets try very hard to minimize the narrative they present, but it’s impossible to completely avoid. Other news outlets try really hard to present a certain narrative, which you might not even notice if you’re in their bubble.
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