Details of the shooting in the North Carolina university town of Chapel Hill on Wednesday emerged slowly, with social media users leading the way, ahead of conventional media.
By the time it had garnered national coverage, thousands were posting messages on Twitter with the hashtag #MuslimLivesMatter while dissecting cautious media reporting on the possible motives of the gunman.
Namee Barakat, centre, at the funeral of his murdered son, Deah Shaddy Barakat. Photo / AP
Ibrahim Negm, the assistant to Egypt's Grand Mufti, wasted no time in denouncing "the American media's silence on this racist attack", according to a statement from his office.
Ali al-Qaradaghi, the secretary general of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, described the shooter as a "terrorist".
"International media went silent," he wrote on Twitter.
Others underscored what they said was an unusual wariness to ascribe motives to the crime, compared with coverage of militant attacks by Muslims.
Dozens of students staged a demonstration in Gaza yesterday in solidarity with the murder victims.
"We condemn the wilful and unjustified ignorance of the international media in general, and the American media in particular, in the treatment of this case," said protester Said al-Hathom.
The shooter has been identified as Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, who made anti-religious comments on his Facebook page and once uploaded a picture of his revolver.
He describes himself as a "gun toting" atheist.
Neighbours say he always seemed angry and frequently confronted his neighbours, sometimes while wearing a handgun on his hip.
Police are probing whether his apparent hostility for religion factored in his alleged murder of Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, his wife Yusor Mohammed, 21, and her sister Razan Mohammed Abu Salha, 19. All three victims were shot in the head at close range.
The father of the two slain women says one of his daughters had told him Hicks "hates us for what we are and how we look".
Speaking at a funeral service which attracted 5000 mourners, Dr Mohammad Abu-Salah, a psychiatrist, asked those who had been following the events in Chapel Hill to celebrate the victims' memories.
"Please, think about them," he said. "Celebrate them and believe. This is Islam. It's not what you hear in the media, it's not American Sniper movie. This is Islam. These three angels."
But Chapel Hill police said their investigation thus far pointed to a neighbour dispute over parking.
One news channel interviewed the suspect's wife, who denied the shooting was racially or religiously motivated.
"It's striking that a sort of moderate, cautionary approach is employed when it is a non-Muslim Caucasian killing three young people," said HA Hellyer, a Cairo-based analyst, who works with the Brooking Institute's Project on US Relations with the Islamic World.
"That's the right approach, but it ought to be like that all the time," said Hellyer.
Thank you for reaching out to us. We are happy to receive your opinion and request. If you need advert or sponsored post, We’re excited you’re considering advertising or sponsoring a post on our blog. Your support is what keeps us going. With the current trend, it’s very obvious content marketing is the way to go. Banner advertising and trying to get customers through Google Adwords may get you customers but it has been proven beyond doubt that Content Marketing has more lasting benefits.
We offer majorly two types of advertising:
1. Sponsored Posts: If you are really interested in publishing a sponsored post or a press release, video content, advertorial or any other kind of sponsored post, then you are at the right place.
WHAT KIND OF SPONSORED POSTS DO WE ACCEPT?
Generally, a sponsored post can be any of the following:
Press release
Advertorial
Video content
Article
Interview
This kind of post is usually written to promote you or your business. However, we do prefer posts that naturally flow with the site’s general content. This means we can also promote artists, songs, cosmetic products and things that you love of all products or services.
DURATION & BONUSES
Every sponsored article will remain live on the site as long as this website exists. The duration is indefinite! Again, we will share your post on our social media channels and our email subscribers too will get to read your article. You’re exposing your article to our: Twitter followers, Facebook fans and other social networks.
We will also try as much as possible to optimize your post for search engines as well.
Submission of Materials : Sponsored post should be well written in English language and all materials must be delivered via electronic medium. All sponsored posts must be delivered via electronic version, either on disk or e-mail on Microsoft Word unless otherwise noted.
PRICING
The price largely depends on if you’re writing the content or we’re to do that. But if your are writing the content, it is $60 per article.
2. Banner Advertising: We also offer banner advertising in various sizes and of course, our prices are flexible. you may choose to for the weekly rate or simply buy your desired number of impressions.
Technical Details And Pricing
Banner Size 300 X 250 pixels : Appears on the home page and below all pages on the site.
Banner Size 728 X 90 pixels: Appears on the top right Corner of the homepage and all pages on the site.
Large rectangle Banner Size (336x280) : Appears on the home page and below all pages on the site.
Small square (200x200) : Appears on the right side of the home page and all pages on the site.
Half page (300x600) : Appears on the right side of the home page and all pages on the site.
Portrait (300x1050) : Appears on the right side of the home page and all pages on the site.
Billboard (970x250) : Appears on the home page.
Submission of Materials : Banner ads can be in jpeg, jpg and gif format. All materials must be deliverd via electronic medium. All ads must be delivered via electronic version, either on disk or e-mail in the ordered pixel dimensions unless otherwise noted.
For advertising offers, send an email with your name,company, website, country and advert or sponsored post you want to appear on our website to advert @ alexa. ng
Normally, we should respond within 48 hours.