Israel to Close Al Jazeera, Ban Journalists - AJ

According to AJ themselves, Israel's communication minister has announced Israel has plans to revoke media credentials and close AJ in Jerusalem

"We have based our decision on the move by Sunni Arab states to close the Al Jazeera offices and prohibiting their work," Ayoub Kara said, adding that the channel is being used by groups to "incite" violence - an accusation AJ has denied. 

In response, AJ wrote: "Al Jazeera stresses that it will closely watch the developments that may result from the Israeli decision, and will take the necessary legal measures towards it."

Israel has repeatedly claimed to be "the only democracy in the Middle East" but AJ's coverage of "the occupied Palestinian territories" doesn't make things easier for it. Other Middle Eastern countries also don't like AJ because it is based in Qatar, with which Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and other neighbors are currently in a kind of "cold war." (Read more about that: Qatar's Neighbors Deliver List of Demands)

89% of Newspaper Reading is Still in Print, Researchers Find

That's compared with 7% of the news-reading time spent on mobile devices and 4% on computers, even though online publishers reach 2 or 3 times the amount of people print publishers do. The study used UK data, but it's likely not far off what North Americans do.

The time-spent-reading numbers also reflect revenues for the publishers. The brands studied took in 88% of their revenues from print, 12% from digital.

The research was the first ever done to comprehensively account for the time spent reading news.

According to the scientist, "My research shows that while print newspapers are read for an average of 40 minutes per day, online visitors to the websites and apps of those same newspapers spend an average of just 30 seconds per day. Scale those numbers up and you can see why newspapers still rely on print for the vast majority of the attention they receive."

One Limited Run Newspaper Pop-up Is Doing So Well, They're Continuing Indefinitely

Print is dead? Nope.

The New European was originally printed a few months ago as a 4-week newspaper aimed at the 48% of Britons who voted against Brexit.

But it didn't end. Readers are still interested and buying. As the editor, Matt Kelly, told Nieman Lab:

"Readers are very passionate about the product. They take photographs of themselves reading it and post them on Twitter. They leave copies once they’re finished with them in doctors’ waiting rooms and bus stops for other people to read. Writers are very keen to engage with the project for a couple of reasons. One is that it’s a newspaper and the truth is that a lot of journalists and writers feel that there’s something special about print. Secondly, it’s a visible articulation of their values. If you’re associating yourself with The New European, you’re making it very clear that you’re pro-European and there’s no ambiguity about that position."

Kelly said that they haven't run out of content ("something fabulous to write about" each week), and they're selling on newsstands for 2 pounds, and have a 20k subscription base that pays 20 pounds for 13 weeks.

They're seen as the "voice for that community," Kelly said, and buyers can demonstrate their interest visibly with the paper in a way they can't with a website (although they do now have a website, too).

Another benefit of print, he said, was that print means money (unlike a paywall website), so they can pay writers, and they have had a lot of interest from writers who are interested in anti-Brexit association, and also in being printed.

They're currently planning to continue until at least the end of the year, which will help with advertising -- one of the flaws of the pop-up publishing model is advertisers aren't that interested in something so short-term. They're now getting ad revenue especially from companies and people interested in Brexit issues and demonstration organizers.

Part of the continued interest has to do with the larger trend toward nationalism, and they have featured Donald Trump many times in recent issues. They're also thinking of starting other pop-ups, including one for people who want to leave Europe, "the complete opposite of The New European."

Putin Tightening Internet Restrictions with Law

Two new laws were signed by Putin this week: one ordered internet providers to block websites that offer VPNs; the other orders instant messaging services to establish user IDs by using phone numbers, and also allows the government to order operators to restrict internet users if the government decides the users are disseminating illegal content.

The Russian government wants less anonymity on the internet. It says the steps are taken in order to prevent extremist materials and ideas.

However, there are questions about how these laws are used: Already, a Russian blogger was given 3 1/2 years (later reduced to 1 year) suspended sentence for posting videos deemed by the Russian courts to incite hatred and insult religious believers' feelings. He was seen playing Pokemon Go in a church in one of his videos. He was also added to the "terrorists and extremists" list.

Discovery Buying Scripps

The trend of consolidation in the telecom and media industry continues as Discovery is making a deal to buy Scripps (Food Network and HGTV home improvement) for $11.9b (value of $90 per share), beating out rival Viacom who also wanted Scripps.

To own Scripps would mean Discovery will control 20% of the ad-supported pay-TV audience in the US and would take Scripps' content to 220 countries and territories. Discovery will also gain leverage in negotiating with advertisers and distributors.

There is analysis, however, that both are making the deal from positions of weakness after showing lower-than-predicted revenues.

Discovery has made attempts to buy Scripps occasionally over the past 9 years, but they couldn't agree on a price.

The industry is tending toward making big cuts in costs and increasing scale in the face of the current media consumption environment.

One U.S. Media Company to Have Over 200 Stations If Approved

Sinclair Broadcast Group, the largest local TV station operator, is ready to buy Tribute Media, a rival, for $3.9b.

If Sinclair gets regulatory approval for the buy, they will have over 200 stations.