I think there's a load of great advice here, without the information you need to diagnose your problems. My take:
1) what key words are you targeting - if none, do some KW research, otherwise, go to step 2
2) where do you rank for your keywords - try whatsmyserp to understand where - if high (top 10) then go to 3, otherwise 4
3) what volume of searches do these KW get (from Google KW tool) - if less than 500/month go to 5
4) you need to optimise - more backlinks, better on-page, plenty of tips available
5) you are aiming for too small a target
a) look for better keywords within your niche
b) niche up (ie expand your focus)
c) if neither of these lead to decent volume, move on.
I suspect you are stumbling at step 1 - KW selection
Getting indexed, especially in news, is the hard part - should be easy for you from here.