At Yahoo!s "News Tools" gathering a Googler explained recently what it takes to get (humanly, not robot-ally) selected as a news source for Google News. EMPHASIS MINE.

"[...] Though Google News is published by an algorithm, the DECISION TO INCLUDE a particular website as a source in Google News is made by human beings, [Google's] Meredith said.

"What do we look for?" asked Meredith. Four things, he replied:

• Original content
• • Multiple authors
• • • Proper attribution
• • • • Response time

The first and third points should not be issues for any experienced journalist. But the second point would be of OBVIOUS CONCERN to many bloggers and independent publishers. Great original content from a single talented writer is NOT ENOUGH to get Google's blessing. If you want the traffic the Google News can deliver, consider forging a partnership with OTHER WRITERS or finding ways to elicit high-quality reader-submitted content that can add ADDITIONAL BYLINES to the front page of your site. [...]"
http://www.ojr.org/ojr/stories/080506niles-google-news/print.htm

[ The second criterium also sort of explains the well-known "magnetism" of group-authored sites like BoingBoing.net even outside GN. Being updated several times a day doesn't hurt either.]

Original content probably means "some original content" – just look at all the included news sources which regularly republish content from news sources like AP or Reuters in only slightly edited words.

As for "multiple authors", that one's a bit hard to define. Google also says your site needs to have an editor not just writers. But in a blog where many, many people send tips, add corrections etc., how do you define these? (Google Blogoscoped – more precisely, just http://blogoscoped.com/articles.html , which is what is "sent" to Google News – had been removed before from Google News due to this matter.)