Jeff Bezos‘ purchase of The Washington Post reconfirms that the newspaper industry is hurting, that the media industry is still in a state of flux, and that no matter how digital content gets, we still have a soft spot for ink. A venerable, old school newspaper that was founded in 1877 was bought by someone who has made their fortune in e-commerce and the news took over Twitter, with “WaPo,” “Washington Post,” and “Jeff Bezos” all trending at some point in the past 24 hours. It truly shows how mixed up and tremendous the media is right now.

As with any change at a media outlet, we wait to see if there will be shifts in the newsroom. Publicists who pitch WaPo are likely preparing for any changes to their media relations strategy. And we can’t forget that there are other properties impacted by this sale. The Root, Slate, and a number of other newspapers and properties are being separated from their anchor, which could also affect their futures. Though we can’t forget that the anchor lost 44 percent of its operating revenue in the past six years.

Clearly, this deal gives The Washington Post the opportunity to not just hover on the edge of survival, but to actually thrive. For Bezos, the paper’s success would reap more than just monetary fortunes.

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Slate writer David Plotz is calling a recent email he received the “most offensive marketing pitch of all time.” After reading it ourselves, we’d be hard pressed to disagree.

On Tuesday morning, Plotz received an email from someone at Rightster, a London-based video distribution company, proposing that the recent beheading of a Brazilian soccer referee could prove to be a “great AD REVENUE generating opportunity.”

The email read as follows (bold/caps were in original email):

Disgusted, Plotz attempted to contact the person responsible for the email, but instead received a response from a Rightster spokesperson, saying: “We regret deeply and are very sorry for the email and the offense it has caused. The individual involved will be disciplined and we will review our policies and procedures to ensure this does not happen again.” Read more

If you ever find yourself responsible for promoting a client whose hook is just too dumb to pitch, we’d like you to know that it can’t true. Don’t believe us? Consider the recent media coverage of SexCereal and Bacon Condoms, two products clearly designed to inspire headlines (and little else).

Neither of these products were April Fools’ jokes, but they both managed to win mentions in mainstream media outlets like The New York Times, Slate, Fox News, Good Morning America, LIVE with Kelly and Michael and even WebMD. How? They had hooks so dumb that folks just had to click. And we all know that producers are just dying to fill airtime with news about stunt products like a condom that helps “make your meat look like meat” and provides “the utmost safety for when you’re makin’ Bacon” or the “world’s first and only gender-based whole food cereal”, which promises to promote “good nerve function, healthy hormone levels, and an unobstructed blood flow to the pelvic area.”

PR wins all around. And yes, there’s a stupid video after the jump: Read more

This week we posted on Weber Shandwick‘s decision to publicize its new content-creation wing, Mediaco, and what that means for the future of PR. This morning we had the opportunity to speak with Steve Rubel, chief content strategist at Edelman PR, to go over how his firm is addressing this newest chapter in the ongoing “PR vs. marketing vs. advertising” debate.

How does the Weber Shandwick announcement relate to recent “creative” moves by Edelman?

There’s a lot of hype in the never-ending hunt for shiny objects in marketing, but the bigger picture here is that the economics of the industry have changed – demand side platforms (ad exchanges) have made advertising more efficient, which caused the price of CPM (cost per impression) and ads themselves to plummet. This is good for the industry but bad for publishers, because media outlets squeezed by tech developments can’t make the leap to other revenue streams like subscription, video, etc.

This has led to a greater willingness to open their platforms to branded/sponsored content, thereby empowering marketers to make good on their longtime desire tell their stories their own way on some of world’s largest websites (Ed. note: see The Washington Post). That is the big change here.

Some people say this is all old news. How do you respond to that point?

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Ogilvy PR/Chicago has appointed Heather Wilson executive vice president and director of the agency’s Chicago Corporate Group. Wilson joined the company on September 17, moving from Weber Shandwick where she ran the West Coast corporate and crisis management practice in Los Angeles. In her new roll, she will focus on brand positioning, financial communication, litigation support, crisis management, government relations and media strategy to solving complex issues facing multinational corporations and crafting integrated campaigns that deliver business results. (Release)

Pete Beatty has been promoted to senior editor at Bloomsbury. He comes from Bloomsbury Press, where he’s been working with Peter Ginna since 2008. Lea Beresford, who joined Bloomsbury as editorial assistant in 2011, has been promoted to editor at the Bloomsbury imprint. (Publishers Weekly)

Maili Holiman has been named the new creative director of Sunset. Holiman comes to Sunset from the George Lucas Educational Foundation, where she had been creative director of the foundation’s magazine — Edutopia — since 2009. Prior to that she was art director at Wired and Readymade. (FishbowlNY)

Andy Sareyan, president of National Journal, is stepping down and Bruce Gottlieb is set to take his place. Gottlieb had been Senior VP of Corporate Strategy. He has also written for Slate, The Atlantic, NYT magazine, and The New Republic, and was the former Chief Counsel at the FCC. (FishbowlDC)

Angelo Lomonte has been named SVP, managing director, at KSL Media. He had been director of media strategy, marketing & advertising at Cablevision. (mb)

Ian Robinson has been named creative director at Ebony. He had been design director at Spin. (mb)

Tom Arnost has been named EVP and chief revenue officer at Telemundo Station Group. He had been on numerous boards and managed a private investment portfolio focused on the media industry. (TVSpy)

Hurricane Irene Photo: NOAA

Hurricane Irene coverage is coming on as strong as the storm is. A state of emergency has now been declared in five states.

Jack Shafer and three other staff members have been laid off at Slate. Fellow journalists are not reacting favorably.

Jim Romenesko, Poynter’s popular media blogger, is going into “semi-retirement” starting January 2012. He’ll be launching his own site, JimRomenesko.com, and working part-time at Poynter. He’ll still be tweeting under his usual handles, and will continue with his other websites.

ABC News and plenty of other media outlets have announced their planned 9/11 coverage.

Bloomberg is acquiring BNA, a company that provides legal and regulatory research and analysis. The deal is worth $990 million and should close this year.

Thankfully, journalists held in the Rixos Hotel in Tripoli have been freed. CNN’s Matthew Chance offers a first-hand account.

More media moves after the jump.

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Simon Doonan, the Barneys creative director and New York Observer columnist who recently revealed a possible Snooki scandal, is taking his musings to Slate.

Doonan’s departure adds to the list of editorial staff members who have left the paper in recent weeks. Among them, Alexandra Jacobs who took a job as an editor in the Styles section at the New York Times, and Eliot Brown, who will cover Albany for the Wall Street Journal.

[Image via NYMag.com]