Wednesday, March 09, 2022

6th Subcircuit situation provides opportunity to explain what is news and what is not news

Learning how to read the news, especially online, is an increasingly necessary skill, one that should perhaps be taught in schools.

There's always been the problem of separating solid, factual reporting from misinformation and downright lies. But, added to that, is the problem that people who undertake to report on a subject sometimes don't know the subject well enough to distinguish between what is news and what is normal.

Here's an old, but useful, definition of news: Dog bites man is not news; man bites dog is. (For more than you ever wanted to know about the origin of that saying, click here.)

A more contemporary example, and one particularly relevant to this site, might be this: When no Republicans file for any Cook County judicial vacancy, that is not news -- but when no one at all files for either 6th Subcircuit vacancy, that is news. Over the past several election cycles, when there have been 6th Subcircuit vacancies, those races have drawn a great many candidates.

And, yet, as of this writing (and I just checked again) no one has filed petitions to run for either 6th Subcircuit vacancy in the June 28 Democratic Primary.

That's not something one would expect. That, therefore, is news.

FWIW has learned that there are at least four candidates eyeing the two 6th Subcircuit races. According to multiple sources, two associate judges, Charles S. Beach and Kerrie Maloney Laytin, are circulating petitions, as are David Rodriguez, an employee of the Circuit Court Clerk's Office and Assistant Public Defender Lori Roper.

Rodriguez filed for a 6th Subcircuit vacancy in the 2020 primary but was not on the primary ballot.

Roper sought a countywide vacancy in 2018. In this cycle she has already picked up an endorsement from the 40th Ward Democratic Organization.

Beach became an associate judge in 2018. He was a candidate for a 6th Subcircuit vacancy earlier that same year.

Laytin was one of the associate judges selected just last Fall. She was a candidate for a countywide vacancy in the 2020 primary.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Situation? What situation? They are all waiting to file. They are running to win, not entertain you lazy clowns who do nothing but trash talk people in the comments section for entertainment.

Anonymous said...

Charlie Beach is the man and he has filed, as of yesterday afternoon, with the State Board of Elections. Somebody else might have lots of money, but is (still) totally lacking in street smarts.