Mirror image question: No American coverage of the murder of Muslim merchant in Glasgow?

It's time, once again, to look at the mirror image of a story that is in the news. We are, of course, in the final days of Holy Week for Western churches.

Let's change the context and flip the key details to create our mirror-image case. Let's say that, somewhere in Europe, the following tragedy took place. It is days before Ramadan and a Christian merchant, extending a hand of fellowship during these tense times, posted a message extending good will and affection for his Muslim neighbors as they entered a holy season.

Hours later, in our hypothetical story, one or two Christians enter the man's shop and brutally murder him, stabbing him repeatedly and then stamping on his head.

Police quickly make it clear that this was a "religiously prejudiced" attack.

Yes, this would be a major story in Europe. But do you think it would draw significant coverage from elite newsrooms on this side of the pond? Or would it be one of those stories that is ignored, other than in alternative media sources that come with political labels attached?

Now, what is the actual story? Let's turn to the BBC, which is hardly a minor news source:

A 32-year-old man has been arrested after a Glasgow shopkeeper was killed in what Police Scotland are treating as a "religiously prejudiced" attack.

Asad Shah, 40, was found seriously injured in Minard Road, Shawlands, at about 21:05 GMT on Thursday. He died in hospital. The incident happened hours after he apparently posted social media messages wishing his customers a happy Easter.

Police said both Mr Shah and the arrested man were Muslims.

A post on Thursday from an account that appears to be Mr Shah's said: "Good Friday and very happy Easter, especially to my beloved Christian nation x!" ...

Coverage in British newspapers has been much more blunt. Consider the top paragraphs in The Telegraph, which jump straight to the religious details that make this crime so dramatic.

A popular shopkeeper was stabbed to death by another Muslim in a "religiously prejudiced" attack hours after posting an Easter message on Facebook to "my beloved Christian nation".

Asad Shah, 40, a devout Muslim originally from the Pakistani city of Rabwah, had his head stamped on during a savage attack, according to one eyewitness.

Around four hours earlier the victim wrote online: "Good Friday and a very Happy Easter, especially to my beloved Christian nation. "Let's follow the real footstep of beloved holy Jesus Christ and get the real success in both worlds."

On Friday afternoon, police confirmed that a 32-year-old Muslim man had been arrested in connection with Mr Shah's death.

The victim had a history -- in social media -- of rejecting violence by radicalized Muslims and calling for peace and understanding between people of different faiths. His neighbors, of all faiths, immediately began raising funds to try to help his family.

It's quite a story. If you look for coverage in elite American newspapers -- take The New York Times for example -- it would be best to use a search engine. You are looking for a tiny Associated Press report that may or may not have made it into the dead-tree-pulp version of the newspaper.

Television networks? I used the internal search engine at CNN.com and could not come up with anything, anywhere. Fox News used the tiny AP story.

What think ye? Would the story have received major coverage if our mirror-image case had taken place? Why or why not?


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