Apple on Tuesday updated the official Apple News Format with several improvements geared toward making News more publisher-friendly, particularly for outlets just signing on.
Channels can, for example, now adopt a custom graphic for their channel cover, which appears in various places throughout the News app. Previously Apple limited this privilege to special partners, which resulted in regular channels defaulting to images from recent stories.
Publishers can also insert older stories into their channels via a new "datePublished" property in metadata. This will prevent an old item from appearing as new, which can potentially create chaos and confuse or anger readers.
Other changes include new Map and Place components, which can be used to highlight areas and/or specific buildings and landmarks in articles.
Lastly, stories can now include remote images linked via HTTP or HTTPS, instead of just bundled content.
Changes to Apple News have been gradual throughout 2016, the biggest development being the opening up of its publishing tools in March. Later this year, Apple should finally fix and restore access to reader metrics, which were disabled after a glitch was discovered.