It seems like there may be some stretching of the truth on some of those responses which are a little too much at opposite ends. For instance, I think there are a couple of "myths" that Google doesn't want to be true, is working hard not to be true, and maybe is mostly not true, but which objectively do not rise to the level of being a myth.

About pictures near articles: I'm sure that the more a site is important, the more its pictures appears on Google News. Whatever the size or the position...