"Media frames become vehicles for representing reality as well as knowledge thereof in a meaningful and symbolic yet somewhat simplistic, stereotypical and distorted, or, so to say, neo-mythological way.
Post-truth and populist politics, but most recently the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated how simplistic yet emotionally charged narratives have away to capture people’s interest and attention, as well as affect policymaking. For instance, research done by Brookings Institution shows that in the US, “Republicans consistently underestimate risks, while Democrats consistently overestimate them” (Rothwell and Desai 2021).
It is therefore the mediated performative and standardized dramatization of socialand political issues that creates neo-myths. A neo-myth is hence a schematic news story that is mediated, received and performed in public, in accordance to media frame-defined scripts...
Here are some of the most popular contemporary stereotypical scripts for public neo-myths: a school shooting in the U.S., a refugee crisis in Greece, a breach of human rights in Russia, and so on."