http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=industryNews&storyID=2005-12-22T190555Z_01_KNE268660_RTRIDST_0_INDUSTRY-MEDIA-USA-ARABS-DC.XMLWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has suspended publishing a lifestyle magazine aimed at improving America's image abroad among young Arabs, in a further sign of troubled U.S. public diplomacy efforts.
The State Department, which sponsors the $4.5 million annual publication and distribution throughout the Arab world of the Arabic-language magazine "Hi," said on Thursday it stopped the presses because it was unclear how widely it was read. snip
The magazine suspension comes after Karen Hughes, the new U.S. goodwill envoy, has struggled to improve America's image in the Middle East.
Hughes, who had been one of President George W. Bush's closest aides before taking the senior State Department job, traveled throughout the Arab world in September.
But the fast-talking, confident Texan, who had no previous experience in foreign diplomacy, found the U.S. image a tough sell as some audiences balked at what they perceived as her cultural insensitivity.