Errol Morris, the famed/infamous documentarian has popularized an important phrase that goes something like, "what happens when the narrative becomes the reality." 

Yes, it is kind of a goofy statement when first thought of, but it is actually a profound realization once a person thinks of it.  For example, imagine the painting of Washington crossing the Delaware - historians point out the painting is horribly inaccurate but the "narrative" of that painting has grown to be the American "reality" of that incident.

I bring this up because a few weeks ago I was speaking to a conservative Democrat about the riots in Portland and asked him if he knew that they were occurring in a relatively very small area and many people in Portland were out in the public and enjoying places like public parks and the like and he would have none of it because the media in its repeated imagery of that area allowed that "narrative to become the reality."