The major media sites all post content from the AP, Reuters etc. I was wondering how the search engines recognize it. I can't imagine that they all get penalized for duplicate content violations, so how exactly does it work?
Google will filter the results to show only one version, it's typically the one with the most authority. Also most these sites have other unique text and content on the page besides the duplicated article.. So for one term site "A" might rank highest, and for the same term slightly modified site "B" might rank.
If you are publishing syndicate content, you shouldn't be hoping to rank for that content. That aside, google won't punish / penalize your site and you can still continue to rank for other keywords and your other pages will also rank.
I appreciate the replies, guys. Not ranking for the specific syndicated content is fine, I was just worried about it hurting the overall ranking for the site.