Before the 2010/2011 holiday season, Google News informed us their would be a slow down in reviewing sites for inclusion in Google News. Harvey P. from Google said this would last "through the end of the year."
Yesterday, Harvey P. replied to a complaint in the Google News Help forum about the process still be delayed significantly.
I was shocked to see Harvey from Google saying it would continue to be slow even now, well after the holidays. Harvey said:
Currently, we've slowed down our submission review process. Publishers who have submitted their site for inclusion to Google News in the last two months should expect significant delays, however we will send you notification when we do review your site. Please see the thread linked to below for more information and for future updates. We appreciate your patience.
I hope this is a just a backlog issue and not something that we will continue to see in the upcoming months.
Forum discussion at Google News Help.