Tales From the Beat

Quotes are like gold. You have to handle them as the valuable thing they are. But what happens when a PR person asks you to change a quote? Or an editor changes a quote and makes it wrong? All quotable subjects host Ed Garsten tackles in this episode.

To honor this week's national elections in Canada, host Ed Garsten recalls an almost disastrous episode while covering the 1997 elections in the Great White North for CNN, thanks to a snarky CBC staffer.

Joel Feder has been an automotive journalist for almost two decades, across all media, especially online at websites that include TheCarConnection, MotorAuthority and GreenCarReports. When those three well-respected sites were suddenly shut down recently, Feder found himself searching for a new opportunity. We discuss what happened, what the public loses when experienced beat writers lose their jo...

The import tariff story is sucking up more than all the air in the room..it's monopolizing all the time of reporters and PR people. This episode recounts how the story totally upended one automotive intelligence company's well laid-out plan, how that effected this reporter and how some PR people handled the story brilliantly.

In this episode of Tales From the Beat, host Ed Garsten interviews VerticalScope editorial director Greg Migliore, who oversees several automotive websites including The Truth About Cars, Autoguide and Motorcycle.com. The lively discussion takes on tariffs, dealing with auto industry PR people, GM's dive back into racing and more.

In episode 110 of Tales From the Beat, host Ed Garsten speaks with PR pro Brian Kramer about his new online newsletter aggregating commentaries on hot PR issues. It's called This Week in PR Takes, or TWiPRT. https://thisweekinprtakes.beehiiv.com

What happened when I decided to take February off as a "sabbatical" from writing for Forbes and not responding to story pitches? It ain't pretty. Here's what happened.

Dan Roth is a journalist, PR pro, and host of the Hooniverse podcast. He fits the profile perfectly, working on both sides of the news and PR scrimmage line. We have a spirited conversation about how he's used all three to succeed at each, the culture shock of going from a newsroom to corporate PR, the viability of auto shows as a PR tool, messaging EVs and more. Link to Hooniverse podcast: https:...

In this episode of Tales From the Beat host Ed Garsten speaks with automotive journalist Craig Cole, the editor of Topspeed.com and co-founder of YouTube channel Auto Esoterica. The discussion goes everywhere from auto shows, to automotive PR, to classic cars to EVs and more.

There was a time some automakers spent millions on shows at auto shows to reveal a new car or truck. Those days are gone as budgets and technology take precedence. But in this episode I look at some of the history of those shows and consider whether or not they were really worth it in the end. Link to video I reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IGPPDu5x6A&t=968s

Happy New Year! As 2025 hits, I look back and ahead at stories, dealing with PR people, "empathetic" management, EV fanboys and girls, along with some resolutions. See if they match your experiences in '24 and promises for '25.

As surely as Christmas poinsettias and Hanukah menorahs, the season of C-E-S has set it and reporters are under attack...from stressed out PR people under pressure to land coverage of their clients at the big tech show in Vegas. But my sore knees are dug in, and I've got Duran Duran to help me out against those flaks who are hungry like the wolf for coverage.

Never trust info from artificial intelligence searches as 100% accurate. What if you could bring actual intelligence, from real humans into the mix. That's what new platform mixus.ai is doing. In this episode Ed Garsten speaks with mixus.ai co-founder Elliot Katz to explain the concept and how you can use it.

For our 100th episode, our guest is manager of the best auto company media website, Courtney Protz-Sanders, who has built the Stellantis website into a reporter's best friend over the course of four ownerships and 21 years. We discuss what makes a superior media website, what reporters expect of them, and what's next. Courtney also run the Paws for Life Animal Rescue and is on the Board of the Mic...

A PR person took the "concept" of embargo to a strange, new dimension and it still has me reeling from that trip to a hitherto unknown zone.

My guest this week is a formidable two-way vet. He's Eric Mayne. For many years one of the foremost automotive journalists and until his recent retirement, a powerhouse member of the Fiat Chrysler/Stellantis communications team. He's also an old, wonderful friend.

Ex-Michigan Governor and current Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm set the tone, kicking off a day at something called Reuters Automotive USA. She said the government's not "effin' around" and neither are we about an industry event that's unlike any other--and that's good.

Can you imagine an entire convention center filled with the stuff of batteries? Big talk about lithium and all the other stuff that goes in them and tons of other subjects and technologies related to those containers that energize electric vehicles and more. I spent a whole day at just such a place in downtown Detroit at a phenomenon called, appropriately enough, The Battery Show.

Back in the Detroit 'burbs for the COVESA all-members meeting from Sweden, Remotive Labs's marketing director Carin Lagerstedt took time out from her busy schedule to sit down with me to discuss figuring out the myriad issues in creating dependable, high-functioning automotive software, and then we pivot to what's been driving her crazy about journalists--especially when it comes to he...

Infinite automotive media events, two Roger Maris home runs and a search for an undetermined number of photos and videos. It's a combination reporter's nightmare and early life flashback.

For our 90th episode, something a little different. Now that the Brit group Oasis is reuniting, I've completely replaced the lyrics of four of their most famous songs to tell the plight of the reporter. Look at it as fun..and definitely don't look back at it in anger.

In this video episode you'll have to excuse me while I'm vacuuming my office. But it's the perfect metaphor for all the crappy story pitches I receive that seem to be living in a vacuum with little to no relevance to anything. Some examples and some ideas.

She's worked both sides of the scrimmage line in news and PR and since 2020, has run her own PR agency. She's Katie Merx, Founder of Merx Communications. We have a great conversation about jumping over from news to PR, the state of the industry, how well the electric vehicle story is being told, and yeah, a few laughs.

Our first video episode takes a short cruise down the Huron River in southeastern Michigan where I compare dealing with different types of PR agencies with navigating a waterway.

Every picture tells a story except when it doesn't. How PR people are making me, um, shutter, by sending photos without finishing the process.