Google news is not just for news. They also link to many opinion sites as well. Additionally although we use MT, is used doesn't really throw into the category of a web log. We use the software for quick takes on the news that are open to comment. Call it what you will, we just like MoveableType.

Our other sections use a different program that doesn't allow comments but has more formatting options.

Regardless of the above, I hope you enjoyed the site.

Hi Shane, thanks for the comment. I didn't mean to disparage your site, which is obviously quite valuable. But I would definitely call the Full Spectrum section a blog, just judging bythe content you have there now. "Quick takes on the news that are open to comment"? That sounds pretty blog-like to me.

I don't disagree. I recently added the section and different "blogs" for editors. It's becoming the most popular section of the publication due to the interactivity.

Google independently looks at each site and makes a judgement call on whether they are to add it into the index. I'm not sure what their requirements are but I've worked on another site that uses MT and they are in it as well, see: www.storyhunters.com. More than likely it comes down to the content.

I thought that was Google's original plan after having bought the people who made blogger software (pyra?).

The line between blog and regular media is definitely thinning.

Also I think editors may do part of the job. So human factors come into play.

Interesting

bala - I'm pretty sure they use only a computer algorithm as their editor. I'm sure it's humans who are decided what is a legitimate news source, but at least according to their FAQ they're staying out of it.

As far as the purchase of Blogger, I don't know if this specifically was their goal... for some reason I was thinking that had more to do with ad potential.