US halts Arabic magazine meant to boost US image

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http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N22352695.htm

US halts Arabic magazine meant to boost US image

WASHINGTON, Dec 22 (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.

A series of studies in the United States have criticized U.S.-funded Arabic-langauge media, such as Radio Sawa and the satellite TV station Alhurra, for failing to attract a large audience.

U.S. officials made a push to boost America's image among Arabs and Muslims after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. But the efforts have been hampered because many Arabs strenuously object to U.S. foreign policies, particularly over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Iraq war.