Stacie Chan from the Google News team posted in a Google News Help thread implying that the Google News ranking algorithm uses over 200 ranking factors for ranking.
Stacie wrote:
News stories are clustered not just by recency, but by over 200 factors, many that fall under originality, relevance, and authority. The most recent story may not be the first shown because there may be an exclusive or other story that the algorithm chooses as the most relevant story.However, the top story is often within the last few minutes to ensure that is a very recent article.
I believe the Google search algorithm uses over 200 ranking factors, in fact, that is the line Google typically uses even through there are probably way more than just 200 factors.
I am not sure if Stacie is lumping in Google News into Google Web Search or if Google News itself does indeed have over 200 factors for ranking their news stories?
Forum discussion at Google News Help.
