Google fixing glitch on news site that mismatched stories and photos

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Engineers at Google Inc. are working to resolve a problem on the company's Google News site that has resulted in some photos and news stories being mismatched. Searches conducted on Google News on Friday occasionally returned photos from Reuters Group PLC that did not match the stories they were listed next to, such as a shot of bunches of vegetables that appeared alongside a story about a Japanese merger firm. Another story listed on Google News' top business stories had a Reuters photo of a guitarist next to a Wall Street Journal story about Sprint Nextel considering changes to a wireless Internet service plan. Google's news pages are automated and use computer coding, or algorithms, to select and display stories. Google spokesman Gabriel Stricker said its algorithms appeared to be mismatching some material, but the problem appeared to be mainly with photos from Reuters. Stricker said Google's engineers are working to solve the glitch and it was not clear why the problem appears to be associated with Reuters material. A Reuters spokeswoman did not immediately return a call for comment.