Iowa Dem's ID Theft Arrest Targeting State's SOS Still Not 'Safe' For National AP Coverage; Local Story Avoids Damning Details

This morning, P.J. Gladnick at NewsBusters pointed to how the Des Moines Register avoided identifying the employer of a "prominent member of a well known Democrat campaign consulting firm" who was also a "former Obama campaign staffer" until the firm, LINK Strategies, had a chance to fire him. Once Zachary Edwards was shown the door, it it became a "safe" story to cover, whereupon the Register ran the story as "Political consultants quickly fire arrested man." But of course.

Though the story of Edwards's arrest in connection with an attempt to steal Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz's identity is nationally newsworthy, it appears that the Associated Press has not yet covered it that way, while avoiding the damning details in its local/regional story.

It's definitely not a national story, as searches (all not in quotes) on "Zachary Edwards," "Link Strategies," "Matthew Schultz," and "Matt Schultz" done shortly after noon all either came up empty or returned nothing relevant at the wire service's main national site.

Sure, there's a teeny-tiny local/regional story, which (of course) fails to note that Edwards's Democratic Party affiliation, his employment by a Dem consulting firm, the name of that firm, or that he was an Obama campaign staffer (produced in full for fair use and discussion purposes):

Other than that, it's a great report. (/sarc)

What the Register did by not reporting the arrest at all until Sunday, the AP did by only reporting the information which wasn't politically incriminating. It looks like a related (coordinated?) attempt to keep the important details bottled up until Edwards could be fired.

Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.