Google wants to give news publishers a way to highlight their original work to better stand out in a content-repurposing world, but it relies on the honor system.

Two new metatags are available for news publishers to use on their Web pages when they want to highlight two specific types of content: stories that are shared with syndication partners and scoops or stories that are completely original works. Google announced the new tags in a blog post, and more specific details on how to implement the tags can be found here.

Publishers of scoops or detailed investigative reporting have long complained about the tendency for their links to get lost in Google News story clusters as thousands of other sites rush to cover the story. In addition, content syndication deals can lead to the story on the syndication partner's site ranking higher in Google News than the original story on the publisher's site.

More: http://news.cnet.com/8301-30684_3-20022985-265.html