How to Game Google News

Ever wondered why a search on Google News sometimes pulls up articles with unrelated photos? Or why a search for "John Kerry" retrieves headlines like John Kerry Should Spit On Prime Minister... before stories from more conventional news outlets? A new article in the Online Journalism Review compares the methodology of Google News to that of Yahoo. The difference is that Google's system is based on an algorithm, while Yahoo News is compiled by human editors. As Berkman Fellow Ethan Zuckerman explains, Google's effort to be all-inclusive makes the site easier to rig. "You have to wonder why some of these wacky sites make the cut," Zuckerman explains to writer JD Lasica.