The media has a long tradition of starting from leftist dogma and looking for anecdotes that fit that dogma. Now, the reflex is to distort anecdotes beyond recognition so that even data that contradicts its preferred narrative is said to advance that narrative. Very Alice in Wonderland.
Great post.
The other term (which you don’t hear so much these days) is the _angle_ of the story.
The editor/reporter starts with an _angle_, then they find “experts”, data, anecdotes that support their _angle_.
I could write a story about the moon being made of green cheese if that was my _angle_.