Hi, Bye

One more before I go off to be merry (thanks, D):   

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-language media, such as Radio Sawa and the satellite TV station Alhurra, for failing to attract a large audience.....But Hi, which was launched in 2003 and had a monthly distribution of 55,000 copies in around 18 countries, aimed to overcome that obstacle and reach an audience directly by tapping into a growing phenomenon of young Arabs indulging in escapism through U.S. pop culture.

A December edition of the online version of Hi, which will continue despite the halt to print copies, combines features on cooking, soccer and family life in the Arab world with a focus on life in Texas.

But following recommendations from an independent advisory panel, the State Department said in a statement that it needed to collect data to see who was actually reading a magazine that competes with popular, glossy fashion publications.

"The review is part of a broader effort to develop a 'culture of measurement' and to evaluate regularly the effectiveness of the Department's public-diplomacy programs," the statement said.

A culture of measurement?  Accountability? Wanting to know how many people actually read it?  What is wrong with these people - didn't they get the memo?

Seriously, if we stop publishing Hi! Magazine, where will Arab teens get their information about Nancy Ajram, except for the three hundred other teen magazines and satellite TV stations? 

No, no, seriously, for real, I never had much of a problem with Hi! - it seemed inoffensive, not particularly expensive, and of no practical significance, and could even be kind of fun to read.  Its passing won't really matter for our public diplomacy, but perhaps it can have some value as a signal of - as the Reuters piece suggests - greater attention to transparency and accountability in our public diplomacy campaigns. 

Comments

[Serx]

I saw new issues of Hi on sale at grocery stores all over Amman, and in Irbid and Karak too, this past summer in Jordan. I can't say if it was flying off the racks, but it was there. A focus group sample of two Palestinian kids in the back of a service taxi to Damascus indicated that they liked it.

[the aardvark]

Yeah, I didn't dislike it either - the kind of thing I'd be happy to page through in the dentists office. But also no different from a bunch of other similar mags...

[Serx]

I'd say the content of the magazine is actually quite highbrow for a teenage audience. Publishers in this country don't seem to have much respect for that audience. (See Cosmo Girl, Stuff)

[Lina]

They distribute it for free in the American Corner of the Modern language center at the University of Jordan!!

A couple of months ago I spotted an issue of the magazine with a title on the cover that said something about the new phenomenon of blogging... curious, I picked it up, and to my utter disappointment, the article - written by two people of Arab origin as you can tell by the names - mentioned NOTHING about blogs in the Arab world... absolutely nothing about any blog from this region, but instead, covered talked about a cuisine blog and then interviewed some American youth on why they blog... I only skimmed through it, but it was more than enough to confirm how so detached this magazine is!! I mean, seriously, you want to tell arab youth about blogs in the year 2005, and you fail to mention that it's already happening... you fail to do a bit of homework and research!!

what I like about all this US-funded media is that it shows you how the hard-core conspiracy theorists are off-mark... I mean, if the US and the zionists are behind everything everywhere and are secretly pulling the strings and brainwashing people all over the world, how come their public media efforts are so pathetic???