I have been reading Google News for a while. I am not sure how exactly is the sequence for the various news articles determined on the site- but I'm sure there is a complex algorithm behind it which naive users would not be able to understand (or even users with a graduate degree in CS as Google has not cared to explain their logic behind coming up with this ordering).<p>This question arose specifically after reading the sequence of news articles on this extremely difficult and contentious issue - where both sides of the news story are presented, but the order in which the stories are presented can make a difference on how the story is perceived in the minds of the readers:
http://img37.imageshack.us/img37/1223/googlenewsordering.png<p>My question is - Does the listing or ordering of stories on Google News have any impact on how the story is perceived by the readers of this news aggregator. Given that Google News is too large to ignore - is this ordering something that needs to be better understood even by lay-users.