After a career that spanned more than two decades at CNN and years as an independent producer, David Bernknopf found himself looking for work and found it running an investigative unit at a TV operation in Alaska. He wrote a novel informed by his experiences in the 49th state that's humorous but also takes on serious journalistic issues. He discusses "Two Years on Another Planet...or is it Alaska," the issues he encountered, plus the state of journalism and CNN with former CNN colleague and podcast host Ed Garsten.

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.

Lots of great guests and some snarky monologues from host Ed Garsten. Here's a recap of 2025 highlights from season 3 of Tales From the Beat, the podcast that looks at news and PR from both sides of the scrimmage line. Featured guests in order:Craig ColeDan RothBrian KramerGreg MiglioreElliot KatzRandall McAdorySam LocricchioJulian BondRobyn MaloneAnna TranKelly LawKim JennettDavid Wilder

David Wilder, CEO of Idaho PR-firm Trustpoint Xposure discusses his agency's money back guarantee of tier 1 media placement and AI dominance with host, journalist, Ed Garsten.

There’s of course, a lot of great journalism out there, butif you look at your newsfeed, there’s a lot of crap too. If you’re old enough,like I am, you remember when, instead of making stuff up, we simply, um,borrowed, from places like the New York Times and Washington Post. At leastthat’s what we did quite often at CNN back in the day. So in episode 130 ofTales From the Beat, I turn the wayback machine to 1986 when a NY Times storycaught the attention of a big boss at CNN, and I was ordered to match it andask a question that received an honest answer that I couldn’t include in mypiece. The ep includes that story, and a much younger host, Ed Garsten.

Ed Garsten's guest is longtime PR pro/marketer and current chief marketing officer at Rendezvous Robotics Kim Jennett. They discuss how Kim turned a single release into its own news cycle, how she works with influencers to build coverage, her approach to pitching reporters and of course, how she uses AI.