"In September, Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy [3] Karen Hughes [4] ... took 16 reporters on her first trip to the Mideast," Al Kamen writes. "We all know how well [5] that trip turned out [6]. So this time, Hughes, heading later this week for Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Germany, has reduced the media contingent ... to zero." Hughes did grant an interview to [7] Time magazine, in which she described the State Department [8]'s new media monitoring unit [9]. In addition to live Arab TV broadcasts, she says, "We have a young man who's watching the blogs, the Web chats." Hughes also describes public diplomacy [10] plans around the 2006 World Cup soccer tournament: "We're going to have our embassies very involved in inviting kids to come watch the games this summer."