Google lets puny humans choose the news

Google News has introduced human editors - a step away from the site's supposed superior news-sniffing algorithms.

The news aggregation site last week introduced an "Editor's Picks" section. This allows editors from a small number of selected sites choose their own favourite news stories.

Google said the change was a small experiment - one of between 50 and 200 it runs at any one time on its various websites.

It told Nieman Journalism Lab, which spotted the change, that it was a short experiment and publishers were not paying for the privilege of taking part.

The self-promotion section contains five headlines chosen from the editor's own site. ®