MUSLIM AMERICAN WEBSITE TRAFFIC HITS THE ROOF DUE TO ITS WAR COVERAGE Site is providing Americans with unique access to press coverage in the Arab world

Muslim WakeUp!, the nations largest Muslim online magazine, is seeing unprecedented traffic in the wake of its special coverage of the Iraq war. Readership skyrocketed after the website became the first US-based media to publish images of both Iraqi civilian victims and American soldiers killed and held captive in Iraq, at a time when all major US news organizations declined to broadcast or publish the images.

The nations largest Muslim online magazine is seeing unprecedented traffic in the wake of its special coverage of the Iraq war.

The website, MuslimWakeUp.com, has been providing up-to-the-minute analysis of war coverage, with special emphasis on the reports of Arabic language media, such as the Al Jazeera television news network based in Qatar.

Readership skyrocketed after the website became the first US-based media to publish images of both Iraqi civilian victims and American soldiers killed and held captive in Iraq, at a time when all major US news organizations declined to broadcast or publish the images.

We took the decision to publish the images of civilian and military victims of the war in the interest of presenting information to the American public that was not being shown by the rest of the media here," explained Ahmed Nassef, Editor-in-Chief of Muslim WakeUp! These images were being broadcast worldwide, and we felt that the American people deserved to see what everyone else in the world was seeing."

Since beginning its special war coverage last week, Muslim WakeUp! has received an average of 300,000 hits per day.

Were getting people who would ordinarily never think of reading our magazine, and the reaction has been tremendously positive," Nassef said. Ive been in the Internet business for years, and I have never seen anything quite like this."

One reader who discovered the website this week is Dennis Hart, Associate Professor of political science at Kent State University in Ohio.

The tone, intelligence, wit, and compassion really appealed to me," Hart said. I am recommending it to my colleagues and all my students."

Muslim WakeUp! is planning to expand its alternative war coverage through continued monitoring of Arab media outlets, as well as reporting on the growing worldwide opposition to the war in Iraq.

An advantage that we have over some of the bigger media here in the US is our familiarity with the Arab world and the Arabic language, which has helped us provide news to the American public at a faster pace than some of the more established outlets," Nassef said.

Since its launch January 2003, Muslim WakeUp! (http://muslimwakeup.com) has become the largest Muslim American magazine on the Internet. Muslim WakeUp! provides news and commentary on politics and culture from a progressive Muslim perspective. In January, Muslim WakeUp! launched its highly popular Hug-a-Jew" feature, which spotlights the work of progressive Jewish leaders. Recipients have included Liat Weingart of Jewish Voice for Peace and Joel Beinin, Political Science Professor at Stanford University. That feature can be accessed at http://muslimwakeup.com/whyhugajew.htm

Ahmed Nassef is the editor-in-chief of Muslim WakeUp! Online Magazine. Nassef is a long-time activist in the Muslim American community. He was President of the UCLA Muslim Students Association and a leading organizer of the anti-war movement during the first Gulf War. He did his graduate work in Middle Eastern Studies at UCLA and travels frequently to many countries in the region. Nassef is available for media interviews.

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