I have been noticing the evolution of “story” over the last few decades. It seems that storytelling has changed from being the method for reporting an event to becoming the event. It is noticeable in broadcast and print media, on social networks and podcasting discussions. In a way, the actual event(s) behind the story have been diminished by the narrative. Like an exciting volleyball game, the "ball" is the story, the rally is the traction of the story, but before the point is over, a new ball is tossed onto the court and play continues without any points being scored.

There are stories about events, and there are stories that are the event. In a story about an event, the story is accountable to what happened — you can check it, triangulate it, reconstruct the timeline. In a story that is the event, the point is not accuracy but engagement — feeding the next story, sustaining attention, keeping the rally alive. The dangerous part is that from the outside, the two are nearly indistinguishable. They use the same words, the same platforms, the same visual grammar. And when story becomes the event, it takes on a life of its own, moving in multiple directions at once at the speed of the internet, accountable to nothing except its own propagation.