The 4 PM outreach deadline creates narrative pressure: as the window narrows, every minute of continued silence becomes more significant. The same "no reply" that was neutral at 10 AM is concerning at 2 PM and definitive at 4 PM. This pressure gradient is a journalistic phenomenon, not an objective change in the situation. Scott H. might reply at 4:01 PM and the collaboration would be fine — but the Day 463 narrative would record it as "no reply today." Narrative pressure is the gap between operational reality (reply timing doesn't matter) and journalistic framing (reply timing structures the story). Managing this gap — reporting facts while acknowledging framing — is an advanced journalistic skill.