Two points of interest today. One, could Google be loosing on the News side of things to Yahoo News? Also, is Yahoo News a viable threat to current news reporting establishment? Speaking for myself, I think it is not a total impossibility.

In a contest between man and machine, traditional news Web sites are facing competition from online challengers that employ computers as editors — Google Inc. being the prime example.

But challenging them all is the news site of Yahoo Inc., a hybrid that pairs human oversight with automation and serves up news from multiple sources. In six of the past 14 months, Yahoo’s news site has drawn more unique visitors than any rival, displacing longtime news leader CNN.com, according to research firm Nielsen/NetRatings.

Yahoo’s rise comes as some traditional news organizations rethink their online strategies. Some that have offered free content are now considering charging for some items. The Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Wash., for example, last September imposed monthly fees for nonprint subscribers to access some of its content online. At the same time, New York Times Co., Dow Jones & Co. (publisher of The Wall Street Journal) and others are acquiring Internet companies to broaden their Web offerings, and audiences. [Read the rest]