Today in CEOs Behaving Badly: We understand why AOL chief Tim Armstrong was a little upset at the unfortunate struggles of Patch, his well-meaning $300 million experiment in hyper-local news content. He promised AOL that the venture would turn a profit by year’s end, and in order to bring this about he seemingly had no choice but to fire hundreds of the writers, editors, and managers at more than 400 individual Patch sites around the country.

But this hardly excuses the commission of a cardinal PR sin: letting his temper get away with him during a 1,000-strong conference call and firing an employee for taking a photo during his speech. It was mild as outbursts go, but it was recorded for the ages and distributed to every media outlet around.

This wasn’t just any employee, by the way; it was Patch’s creative director Abel Lenz. The fact that such a Trump-worthy incident was terrible PR should be obvious to all, but we’ll go into a bit more detail:

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Suzanne Grimes was appointed president-chief operating officer of Clear Channel Outdoor Americas, effective January 1, 2013. Ms. Grimes previously served as president of the U.S. Lifestyle Communities group at Reader’s Digest Association, where she also led the Reader’s Digest business units in Canada and India. (AdAge)

AOL’s Advertising.com Group has hired B-to-B marketing veteran Allie Savarino Kline as its new chief marketing officer. Ms. Kline will join AOL early in the new year from 33Across, where she ran marketing for the social-data startup. The decision to hire Kline for this new role comes as AOL begins to treat its ad-tech business, content business, and legacy consumer-product business as three separate entities. (AdAge)

W2O will be acquiring VM Foundry, a 15-person digital agency in Austin, Texas. As part of the move, W2O is also launching W2O Digital, a center of excellence for the W2O companies. This is part of a larger commitment to using technology to make PR smarter and more effective. In addition to VM Foundry, W2o also acquired big-data firm Ravel earlier this year. (Blog)

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Hill+Knowlton Strategies has announced that Amy McMichael Paddock, SVP and general manager of the firm’s Austin, TX office, will co-lead global client services with Vivian Lines, vice chair and co-head of client services. Paddock will work from Austin and report directly to H+K’s global chairman and CEO Jack Martin. In another shift, Bill Lauderback has also been named general manager of H+K Austin. Bill most recently worked as a senior advisor at Public Strategies, a role which allowed him to  counsel clients on strategic campaign development and execution with a particular emphasis on government relations. In his new role, he will draw on more than 25 years of senior-level experience in business management, government affairs, public policy and communications. (Release)

Australia’s DEC PR has named Kirsty McRae as client services director and “head of consumer.” In her new role, Kirsty will champion the provision of the highest levels of client service across the agency’s key clients and build on the agency’s successful consumer business. Kirsty has more than 10 years industry experience across consumer and corporate PR along with the attendant expertise in global and domestic market initiatives. Her client portfolio includes P&G, Unilever, Nike, Bacardi, Billabong, Danone, Premier Foods, BMW Mini and Intercontinental Hotel Group. (Release)

Zing’s two most senior executives, Robert McEwen and Preya McMahon, have created a second brand, McEwen McMahon, which will offer more corporate public relations services while Zing remains a consumer PR brand. “Zing will continue to focus on the beauty, fashion, lifestyle and entertainment work that has been its hallmark,” the two principals said in a release, “while McEwen McMahon will be more of a high-level consultancy, advising C-suite executives on internal and external reputation management issues.” (Release)

Huffington Post ad sales chief Moritz Loew has been dismissed by AOL. According to Adweek, Loew believes the dismissal was the result of a background check and an outstanding warrant from a 2003 DWI charge. A spokesperson from AOL told Adweek that “Recent information has indicated that Moritz’s hiring did not meet AOL requirements.” (Adweek)

Perhaps taking a page out of Third Point’s activist investor guidebook, investment advisor Starboard Value has launched a proxy battle against AOL to get seats on the board and then push to unload local news outlet Patch.

Patch has had a lot of troubles. The latest effort to turn things around includes a restructure and cutting 20 managers. According to Forbes, “The days of AOL treating Patch like a garbage disposal for money are officially over.” So Patch, and by extension AOL, are having business model problems.

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Rush Limbaugh used his radio program today to reiterate his “heartfelt” apology to Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown Law student that he labeled a “prostitute” and a “slut” last week for her vocal support for covering contraception in health care plans.

Today’s show was also an opportunity to address the news that a number of advertisers have decided to pull their dollars from the program (the figure has gone from six to eight). AOL has added itself to this list.

“We have monitored the unfolding events and have determined that Mr. Limbaugh’s comments are not in line with our values. As a result we have made the decision to suspend advertising on The Rush Limbaugh Radio show,” said AOL spokesperson Maureen Sullivan.

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Comic book author Alonzo Washington is on "TheGrio 100" list.

At an event yesterday, The Huffington Post and AOL introduced The Huffington Post Streaming Network (HPSN), a live network that will broadcast 12 hours per day starting this summer. HuffPo founding editor Roy Sekoff will run the network which he says will be a mix of CNN, The View, and YouTube.

The New York Times has launched “Business Day Live,” a live video show that will focus on the top business headlines of the day. It will air each weekday and appear on the outlet’s homepage.

The Wall Street Journal has also launched a new program, “Off Duty,” a lifestyle show based on WSJ Weekend that will air each weekday at 6 p.m. ET on the outlet’s YouTube channel. It will be hosted by reporter Wendy Bounds. This adds to the list of shows that the WSJ already has, including “Lunch Break” and “Mean Street.”

A former Harper’s Bazaar intern is suing Hearst for unpaid minimum wages. According to the lawsuit, accessories intern Xuedan Wang worked unpaid between 40 and 55 hours per week between August and December of last year. The plaintiff and her lawyers hope to build a class-action lawsuit. [via Reuters]

Bloomberg head Lex Fenwick has been named CEO of Dow Jones & Co. He replaces Les Hinton, who left the post in July. Fenwick joined Bloomberg in 1987 and was tapped to head up Bloomberg Ventures in 2007. [via WSJ]

TheGrio.com has revealed “TheGrio 100,” its list of “history makers and industry leaders” making waves in the U.S. today. Among those on the list are the mayor of Jacksonville, FL, Alvin Brown, Google’s Torrence Boone, and marine biologist Daniell Washington.

Clickthrough for more of the week’s media changes.

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The lead story this afternoon on HuffPo Science.

AOL is partnering with Bonnier’s Parenting Group to bring Parenting.com content to AOL Family, HuffPo Parents, and AOL.com. [via Fishbowl NY]

Speaking of Huffington Post, they’ve launched a new channel, HuffPost Science.

Colin Mylar, former editor of News of the World has been chosen as the new editor of the New York Daily News. Mylar has been unemployed since NOTW shut down amid the phone hacking scandal that erupted this summer. Capital New York has the internal memo.

There are reports that the Kardashian family has spoken with American Media about the possibility of launching a new magazine. However, Kim’s publicist at PMK-BNC has no comment.

Eric Carven has been named the AP’s social media editor. He was previously a news producer at the AP Nerve Center.

Keith Olbermann has already stirred up the pot at Current TV. Where it will lead seems up in the air. But people do agree on one thing: production value needs to improve a bit.

Click through for more changes in the media world.

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Kiersten Hollars

Chandler Chicco Companies (part of inVentiv Health) has acquired two German healthcare firms: Haas & Health Partner Public Relations and SanCom Creative Communication Solutions. CCC took a 19.9 percent interest in these firms in 2008. The acquisitions add 33 staffers (23 from the former, 10 from the latter), bringing Chandler Chicco’s staff total to 380 around the world. Both firms will continue with their current names and leadership.

Michael Sneed has been named VP of global corporate affairs at Johnson & Johnson, effective January 1, Ad Age reports. He will lead the global marketing and PR efforts as the company tries to comeback from a series of recalls. Brian Perkins, corporate VP of corporate affairs, will retire in March, but the company insists that Sneed is taking a broader role and is not replacing Perkins. The company is has also had a number of layoffs in the marketing area. Recalls since 2009 have cost the company $1 billion in sales, the story says.

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A picture of Arrington at TechCrunch Disrupt, tweeted by Alexia Tsotsis

Michael Arrington is officially out at TechCrunch and Erick Schonfeld is in as editor. So says the AOL statement, available on AllThingsD, which also says Arrington’s departure was his decision, calls the TechCrunch acquisition “a success,” and teases more editorial changes in “the coming months.”

Even with that resolved (perhaps), there’s still the problem of making all of the brands beneath the AOL umbrella one cohesive, working unit.

“Since Tim Armstrong took over the struggling Internet company in 2009, AOL has acquired more than half a dozen companies in an effort to shake off its reputation as an Internet has-been and become an ad-supported destination for news and entertainment content on the Web,” the Wall Street Journal writes. It may shed that old reputation, but with the company’s internal problems making news, it’s new rep could be just as bad.

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As we mentioned in this morning’s Ticker, Michael Arrington is officially out at AOL, at least for now. Forbes broke the news last night, with the caveat that things could change since there has been a lot of back-and-forth during the past week over his status with the company. The fate of CrunchFund is also still unknown.

The story says, “Huffington clearly erred here in okaying a project without fully understanding its public relations consequences,” but she ultimately appears to be the most “influential” leader at AOL. The Atlantic Wire says AOL might have reason to worry if the TechCrunch staff and readers leave with Arrington. In case you missed it, Arrington published a story on TechCrunch with his own set of demands before he got the ax.

Conde Nast is spinning off Reddit, but hanging on to ownership of the company. Conde bought Reddit five years ago.

Google is buying restaurant guide Zagat in an effort to beef up its local offerings, The New York Times reports. For Zagat, the sale also helps them at a time when it has seen its prominence decline in the face of competition from other online restaurant guide sources.

For more media news and moves, click through.

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