Gerry Conover has a unique view of both the auto and newsindustries after spending more than years at Ford Motor Co. and 45 years as ajournalist. He’s journalist Ed Garsten’s guest on episode 135 of Tales From theBeat, the podcast that looks at news and PR from both sides of the scrimmageline. In the episode, Gerry offers his frank views on auto news coverage, PRpractices and discusses his auto newsletter that’s always stuffed with insideindustry info.

In episode 134 of Tales From the Beat, host Ed Garstenwelcomes longtime journalist Matt DeLorenzo....the former editor of Road &Track and Autoweek magazines, Freelance Writer, Author and Editor-in-Chief of TightwadGarage.com. They discuss Matt’s new book “Mercedes-AMG: Race BredPerformance, the evolving EV and electrified vehicle story, whether it’s been covered fairly, the role of automakers in shaping the story, how the decimation of the automotive media has affected coverage of the industry overall and where Matt looks for authoritative auto coverage.

Fox 45 Baltimore investigative reporter Chris Papst spent years looking into questionable practices at the Baltimore public school system, discovering shocking practices such as falsifying student grades to boost graduation rates tied to funding. We discuss the investigation, Chris's techniques, extracting data from uncooperative sources and why local TV news is vital, even as stations reduce budgets and staffing.