Tales From the Beat Episode 137: Christopher Barger
Communicator/Podcaster Christopher Barger discusses with host Ed Garsten coverage of the recent shooting at the White House Correspondents Association dinner, getting the word out as the number of journalists diminish, how to get through partisan noise, legitimacy of the PESO communications strategy and his new podcast.
TTAC Creator Ed Garsten hosts " Tales from the Beat," a podcast about the automotive and media worlds. A veteran reporter and public relations operative, Garsten worked for CNN, The Associated Press, The Detroit News, Chrysler's PR department and Franco Public Relations. He is currently a senior contributor for Forbes.
The TTAC Creators Series tells stories and amplifies creators from all corners of the car world, including culture, dealerships, collections, modified builds and more.
A transcript, summarized via AI and edited by a staffer, is below.
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Transcript:
Tales from the Beat: Episode 137
Host: Ed Garsten
Guest: Christopher Barger
Overview
This episode of Tales from the Beat features host Ed Garen interviewing communications expert Christopher Barger. The discussion centers on journalism, PR, media credibility, and how communication strategies are evolving in a polarized, AI-driven landscape.
Guest & Podcast Introduction
- Christopher Barger is a veteran corporate communicator (worked with companies like General Motors and Owens Corning).
- He’s launching a new podcast, The M Dash Report, which uses a fast-paced, debate-style format (similar to sports commentary shows) to discuss PR, marketing, and media issues.
Major News Discussion: White House Correspondents’ Dinner Incident
- They analyze a breaking incident involving gunfire near the event.
- Barger outlines four key angles the media must cover:
- Security failure – how someone got close to the president.
- Political violence – part of a broader troubling trend.
- Media self-coverage – journalists reporting on an event they were part of.
- Misinformation – rapid spread of conspiracy theories.
- Both agree journalists handled the situation professionally, maintaining objectivity despite being directly involved.
Decline of Trust in Media
- The conversation shifts to credibility issues in journalism:
- Social media has removed traditional “gatekeepers.”
- Anyone can publish information, making it harder to distinguish fact from opinion.
- Audiences increasingly seek information that confirms their biases.
- Media outlets are often perceived as politically aligned rather than neutral.
- Barger expresses pessimism about returning to widespread trust in objective journalism due to polarization.
Challenges in Modern PR & Communications
- Key advice for communicators:
- Stay consistent with organizational values—inconsistency damages credibility most.
- Accept that some audiences will disagree regardless of messaging.
- Focus on trust and transparency, even though PR is often viewed skeptically.
- The role of communications has evolved:
- From writing press releases → to strategic business advising.
- Effective communicators must understand business strategy, not just messaging.
Shrinking Newsrooms & Impact
- Fewer journalists mean:
- Reporters are overworked and multitasking.
- PR professionals have very limited time to capture attention.
- Messaging must be extremely concise (often one strong sentence).
AI & Changing Media Landscape
- AI and search are reshaping communication:
- Many users get answers directly from AI summaries without clicking links.
- Earned media (coverage by trusted outlets) is becoming more valuable for credibility.
- Headlines and SEO/AI optimization are now critical.
PESO Model (PR Strategy)
- The PESO model (Paid, Earned, Shared, Owned media) is still relevant.
- However, priority is shifting toward “earned media” due to its influence on AI and search credibility.
Key Takeaways
- Journalism is facing a credibility crisis driven by polarization and information overload.
- PR professionals must adapt to:
- Shorter attention spans
- AI-driven discovery
- Fewer traditional media gatekeepers
- Consistency, clarity, and credibility are more important than ever.
- Both journalism and PR are evolving rapidly, with no easy path back to the old model.
TTAC Creator Ed Garsten hosts " Tales from the Beat," a podcast about the automotive and media worlds. A veteran reporter and public relations operative, Garsten worked for CNN, The Associated Press, The Detroit News, Chrysler's PR department and Franco Public Relations. He is currently a senior contributor for Forbes.
More by Ed Garsten, TTAC Creator
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Wow, a podcast on TTAC with content that has zero to do with automobiles. The Timbo legacy remains.
BTW, really nice Copilot slop summary here. All of this really encourages me to not engage with this podcast.
Oh, an if anyone at TTAC says "well you still clicked so we get ad revenue", yeah well I have three words for you, "Firefox ad blocker". You will get nothing and like it until your content improves.
There are so many points I want to rebuke from this AI Summary
"Headlines and SEO/AI optimization are now critical."
This could not be further from the truth, did AI make this up from the podcast or was this really said? The last thing we need is more clickbait titles - in fact Gen Z actively rails against them. The only people clicking the headline "11 cancers on the rise in young people - and why that's a good thing" or "How quiet thriving is killing your culture" or "Climate Change creates more Rabid Racoons, why this Disenfranchises black Americans disproportionally" are boomers. Furthermore, AI is at its infancy - it generally sucks for anything more than basic computations, it's typically out of date and is outright wrong (with confidence) a surprising amount of the time. Using AI to clean up or edit written work is sloppy and noticeable.
"Both agree journalists handled the situation professionally, maintaining objectivity despite being directly involved."
I don't want to dive into politics but journalists downing whole bottles of wine left on tables is professional?
"Social media has removed traditional “gatekeepers.”
Anyone can publish information, making it harder to distinguish fact from opinion."
Gatekeepers such as journalists who actively include their biases in non-opinion pieces where they don't belong? I don't need a gatekeeper to tell me what I do and do not want. I don't need journalists opinions presented as facts. I need the details of what is happening from all angles and from that I will decide my own beliefs.
Don't tell me a Lexus GX is a bad vehicle because it gets 18 MPG or is not as roomy as TX. 18MPG may be bad for someone financially struggling but a large percent of the country is not that poor. Likewise, comparing an SUV to a crossover tells me you do not understand the market segments, cross shopping a GX with a TX makes as much sense as cross shopping a F250 with a Miata. Tell me your tested fuel efficiency, how it relates to others in the segment (without inserting bias) and tell me about the roominess with actual competitors in the same segment. Making blanket statements about all vehicles as if they all belong to the same segment is illogical.
"Audiences increasingly seek information that confirms their biases."
And journalists are why automakers built a whole generation of cars with suspensions designed to tackle the burgerkingring instead of more realistically being comfortable for 500 miles of highway driving. Not audiences, audiences kept buying trucks and Jeeps despite all the nay-saying from journalists. My bias is for comfort and real world use. I have no interest in reading a journalist's article that negates a 6L V8 car for its fuel efficiency, nor a journalist that blathers on regarding their concern that a Jeep Wrangler doesn't handle as well as an X5.
"Reporters are overworked and multitasking."
You could have fooled me with the number of sloppy story retractions that were not remotely plausible to begin with and AI loaded articles.
Want credibility? Present facts as facts, present opinions as opinions, don't compare apples to oranges. Quit making clickbait headlines.
More priceless car commentary.