[This is the headline over a report just posted on the website of The Times. It reads in part:]
News of yesterday’s premature release of Lockerbie bomber Abdul Baset al-Megrahi was met by American newspapers with a collective shrug.
Given the tepid response to the Scottish Justice minister’s decision from American officials — including President Obama — however, the reaction in the media is hardly surprising.
In a radio interview yesterday afternoon, Mr Obama reacted to al-Megrahi’s release with restraint, calling the decision “a mistake” and "not appropriate.” He went further, but not by much, in calling for al-Megrahi to be kept under house arrest by the Libyan government.
Mr Obama’s cool reaction seemed to be echoed in the pages of America’s elite newspapers. In The New York Times, the Lockerbie story commanded a tiny box of exactly 27 words in the bottom left corner of the newspaper’s front page. The actual story was pushed to page four and barely featured on the paper’s website.
In the Washington Post, al-Megrahi’s release received even less attention. The story was relegated to page 16, far beyond the space usually reserved for stories deemed important.
Only the Los Angeles Times featured the story prominently with a large front page photo with caption of al-Megrahi arriving in Libya to cheering throngs of supporters.
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