Mediagazer: Murdoch's ex-British paper boss Brooks to start phone-hacking defence (Michael Holden/Reuters)

3:40 PM ET, February 17, 2014

Top News:

Stealthily, Comcast Fortifies Its Arsenal — Big media companies are generally warships, blistering with firepower and declaring their might long before they attack. But Comcast, which is headed toward being one of the biggest of them all, is much more like a submarine …

Discussion: New York Times, Felix Salmon, @antderosa, @timkarr, @artfcity, @stevenlevy, @maura, @carr2n and Bloomberg

David Gelles / DealBook:

With a Bigger Comcast May Come More Deals — Just last month, Discovery Communications, the owner of cable networks including Animal Planet and TLC, had considered acquiring rival Scripps Networks Interactive in a deal that would have been valued at more than $10 billion. — Discovery never went ahead.

Discussion: Nieman Journalism Lab, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, @pkafka and Paul Krugman

New York Times:

Punching Above Its Weight, Upstart Netflix Pokes at HBO — On the night of the Golden Globes ceremony last month, Netflix and HBO held dueling parties at the Beverly Hilton hotel. Bono and Julia Roberts mingled underneath a bejeweled tent as Netflix, the upstart streaming service …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, @laughingstoic, The Wrap, @pkafka, @laceyvrose, @carr2n, @nycjim, @rafat, @brucedaisley, @zseward, @jbennet and @brianstelter

Nicole Perlroth / New York Times:

Profile of blogger Brian Krebs who was first to uncover security breaches at Adobe and Target — Reporting From the Web's Underbelly — SAN FRANCISCO — In the last year, Eastern European cybercriminals have stolen Brian Krebs's identity a half dozen times, brought down his website …

Discussion: @hartupnorth, @derekwillis, @jamesvgrimaldi, @infoarbitrage, @ashk4n, @peterwsinger, @carr2n, @jeremyzilar, @erikrolfsen, @virusbtn, @butterworthy, @sullduggery, @gerryfsmith, @attackerman and Krebs on Security

Leslie Kaufman / New York Times:

Breitbart News Network plans global expansion with Texas and London operations — Breitbart News Network Plans Global Expansion — It has been nearly two years since the conservative provocateur Andrew Breitbart died, but the online news organization that carries his name is not only continuing …

Discussion: @donal_blaney, @erinmcunningham, @billmon1 and @flipcritic

Roy Greenslade / Guardian:
Conservative columnist James Delingpole to lead Breitbart.com's London team

Discussion: @sunny_hundal, @arrest_bankers, @sturdyalex, @timmontgomerie, BREITBART.COM, @_sidverma and @dsquareddigest

Sarah Lacy / PandoDaily:

Pando raises Series A of $1.2M+, about half its seed raise, led by “unconventional” Tennessee-based investors — The new Pando: “Speaking truth to the new power” — Two years and one month ago, I officially founded PandoDaily. I had $2.5 million of investor money …

Discussion: SouthernAlpha, @swyyft, @jason, @jasonschreier, @samfbiddle and @joshsternberg

Kevin Gosztola / Firedoglake:

Imprisoned CIA Whistleblower Threatened with ‘Diesel Therapy,’ Suffers Shakedowns for Talking to Press — The federal correctional institution of Loretto, Pennsylvania, where former CIA officer John Kiriakou is serving a thirty-month jail sentence, appears to be scrambling to find …

Discussion: @trevortimm

Martin Pengelly / Guardian:

Journalists who broke NSA story in Guardian receive George Polk Awards — The three journalists who broke the National Security Agency revelations from Edward Snowden in the Guardian are among the recipients of the prestigious 2013 George Polk Awards in Journalism.

Discussion: Long Island University, New York Times, Poynter, Associated Press, The Wrap, @newsliteracy, @vivianschiller, The Intercept, @janinegibson, @jayrosen_nyu, @ggreenwald and FishbowlNY

James Trew / Engadget:

GoPro's IPO isn't about selling cameras, it's about creating a media empire — It was 2001, more than a decade before GoPro would announce its intentions to go public, and its CEO Nick Woodman was facing a very expensive failure. In just two years, he'd lost nearly $4 million of investors' money …

Ashley Armstrong / Telegraph:

Reader's Digest sold for £1 by Better Capital — The sale for a nominal amount marks another chapter in the magazine publishing company's chequered history and a steep writedown for Jon Moulton's listed private equity firm — Reader's Digest has been sold for just £1 …

Discussion: @neilthackray, BelfastTelegraph.co.uk, Book2Book, Guardian, @raju, Sky News, Ifa Magazine and thedrum.com

Bill Carter / New York Times:

‘Tonight’ Show Returns to New York After Nearly 42 Years — On Monday night, for the first time in almost 42 years, NBC's “Tonight” show will be hosted from New York. The show, which invented the form of entertainment known as late-night television, is returning to the place of its birth …

Discussion: CNN, AM New York, @chriscoffeytalk, NY Daily News, @danielpink and @mmalkoff

Karl Bode / Techdirt:

CBS Admits Aereo Supreme Court Win Wouldn't Hurt CBS, Might Make Things Better For Everybody — Last year CBS joined a number of broadcasters in whining incessantly about how if Aereo was allowed to continue living, the “struggling” networks would be forced to pull their content from over the air broadcasts and move to cable.