Those who are in the news business are often asked how they decide what is news and what is not news.
You learn that the definition of news often comes down to what is new or what is unusual. It’s the old saying about a man biting a dog versus a dog biting a man.
These days, and every day it seems, we wake up to more unusual news.
The news today about setting records again for extreme heat, breaking past temperature records with readings that are pretty unusual for downtown San Diego and even in the inland valleys and even for the end of September.
And the wildfires up and down the state that have been far greater in number than usual and burning up more acreage than usual.
And then the reports about the swarm of earthquakes that shook Imperial County and that were felt in many areas of San Diego County.
While earthquakes are not unusual here in Southern California, after the extreme weather and the excessive wildfires, a swarm of even something usual becomes unusual.
And then there was the very unusual presidential debate this week.
The unusual news has just become the normal news in a year that has become synonymous with the unusual. It’s 2020.
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