Bloggers from AOL’s stable of online media titles are heading for the exits following the announcement that Verizon will acquire AOL for $4.4 billion. Within hours of the deal coming to light yesterday, writers from AOL’s media wing, which includes Huffington Post, Engadget and TechCrunch, were firing off speculative job applications. Who wouldn’t want to work for a phone company?

Verizon has a less than stellar reputation when it comes to running media companies. Last year they launched a tech blog called SugarString that explicitly banned its reporters from covering certain topics. Worryingly for HuffPo writers, SugarString was quickly shuttered…