Indeed, and that's the heart of the problem. Something like Google news needs more than just algorithms.

OTOH, that's also a problem, because any editorial choice is politically debatable... I'm afraid there is no easy solution.

I'm afraid there is ultimately no way to not be political.

Having these kind of anti-news sites appear as "news" on Google is not just poisoning their reputation but making them complicit in whatever disaster finally results from it. The worst case scenario is genocide e.g.: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_T%C3%A9l%C3%A9vision_Lib...

Before we get to political leaning there's a small issue of journalistic integrity and the difference between editorials and news articles

Maybe all linkers shouldn't be treated as equal. Random FB/Twitter posts reveal interest in the topic, but not accuracy of the article. But I assumed Google was accounting for this already.

That's exactly what page rank was about to begin with.

However...

1. Various 'credible' news sources also link to dodgy sites and articles, either when criticising it, posting a story said sites first ran or simply because they've fallen for 'fake news'.

2. A lot of trust signals are easily gamed, like .edu links going for a fortune on SEO forums.

3. At some point, quantity will probably win out over quality.