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I think I found a way to preserve metadata/IPTC... we just have to ALSO upload the original image to an asset.

Under the Other tab, Miscellaneous properties, scroll down to the bottom and Upload Hi-res image. 
The original image can then be Viewed/downloaded with intact metadata/IPTC.

It's ANOTHER additional step in the sea of never-ending steps to preserve this data, which is crucial to journalism, but might be the work around.