AP Finally Applies 'Abortion' Tag to Its 20th 'Big Story' Item on Gosnell, Then Relapses

By Tom Blumer | April 13, 2013 | 10:22 http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tom-blumer/2013/04/13/ap-finally-applies-abortion-tag-its-20th-big-story-item-gosnell-then-rel

On Wednesday (at 21 Comments; at BizzyBlog, I noted that the Associated Press had, up to that point, failed to apply its "abortion" tag to any of its 19 "Big Story" items (11 reports and 8 photo captions) on Kermit Gosnell, the Philadelphia late-term abortionist who, as Life News usefully reminded us yesterday, is current being tried and "faces 43 criminal counts, including eight counts of murder in the death of one patient, Karnamaya Monger, and seven newborn infants."
Well, it may just be a weird coincidence, but on Thursday, in a story ("RECEPTIONIST: UNLICENSED DOC FLED PA. CLINIC RAID") by Maryclaire Daly, who on March 25 infamously described Gosnell as "an elegant man who ... smiled softly" in court, the self-described Essential Global News Network finally used its "abortion" tag in connection with Gosnell. As a public service, since it seems unlikely that AP will go back and apply the tag to the previous stories with its "kermit gosnell" tag, yours truly is listing them after the jump, in the hope that future searchers for information on "abortion" and "crime" will have a better chance of finding what the AP, up until Thursday, has preferred to keep relatively hidden:

April 4 -- "STAFFER DESCRIBES CHAOS AT PA. ABORTION CLINIC"
March 28 -- "MED. EXAMINER, LAWYER CLASH AT DOC'S MURDER TRIAL"
March 25 -- "'DESPERATE' WORKERS TO TESTIFY IN ABORTION TRIAL"
March 21 -- "EXPERT DENOUNCES PHILLY ABORTION CLINIC'S POLICY"
March 20 -- "DOC FIGHTS CHARGE THAT ABORTED BABIES BORN ALIVE"
March 19 -- "WORKER ADMITS CUTTING 10 BABIES AT ABORTION CLINIC" (oddly, the URL for this story is "http://bigstory.ap.org/article/doc-disputes-killings-philly-abortion-clinic")
March 18 -- "DEFENSE: PHILLY ABORTION DOC'S CASE 'A LYNCHING'"
March 12 -- "12 JURORS SEATED FOR PHILLY ABORTION DOC'S TRIAL"
March 5 -- 6 JURORS CHOSEN FOR PHILLY ABORTION CLINIC CASE"
March 4 -- "3 JURORS PICKED IN PA. ABORTION DOC'S MURDER TRIAL"
August 13, 2012 -- "OFFICIALS: PA. ABORTION CLINIC DEATHS NO ACCIDENT"

Unfortunately, AP has suffered a tagging relapse.
Dale's April 12 Big Story ("PHILLY ABORTION CLINIC WORKERS SAW FEW OPTIONS") has the following tags: North America, United States, Drug-related crime, General news, Crime, Legal proceedings, Law and order, Violent crime, Homicide, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Kermit Gosnell.
Once again, the "abortion" tag went unused, despite the fact that Dale used the word six times in her write-up. The accompanying AP photo also did not have an "abortion" tag, though it did have the following other tags, in addition to proper nouns: Crime, Police, General news, Law enforcement agencies, Anonymous, and "Government and politics."
As I wrote on Wednesday: "If there’s an explanation for this practice other than to deliberately minimize readers’ potential exposure to the horrific practitioners, practices, and procedures in the abortion industry as it really operates, I can’t imagine what it would be."
There is more to this matter of "tagging" at AP, which I will explore this afternoon or evening.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.