Michael Caulfield...describes this process as setting a scene. “Propagandists have an agenda, but they don’t get to choose the material they have to work with,”

Michael Caulfield...describes this process as setting a scene. “Propagandists have an agenda, but they don’t get to choose the material they have to work with,” he told me. “Something is discovered. A piece of data is found. Someone dies. The trope is a recipe for connecting the novel element to the overarching narrative in a formulaic way. And it’s immediately familiar to the audience.”