In episode 148 of Tales From the Beat, Strategic Global Media founder and CEO Scott Merritt and partner Dwain Schenck tackle divisive issues with host/journalist Ed Garsten that include who is a journalist and what is the toughest and most misunderstood job in PR. They also bat around the effects of AI in story pitching and Ed reveals a boo boo he made when he hopped over to corporate PR from journalism.
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.
An AI-summarized transcript and edited by a staffer is below.
[Image: YouTube Screenshot]
Become a TTAC insider. Get the latest news, features, TTAC takes, and everything else that gets to the truth about cars first by subscribing to our newsletter.
Summary
This episode of Tales from the Beat features Scott Merritt, founder and CEO of Strategic Global Media, and partner Dwayne Shank, discussing the relationship between public relations and journalism. The conversation focuses on why media relations is one of the most difficult parts of PR, how AI is changing the way stories are discovered, and what actually qualifies someone as a journalist. Pasted text
Strategic Global Media
Merritt says he has spent nearly three decades in PR, working in-house and at agencies before founding Strategic Global Media in 2022. The agency specializes heavily in media relations, particularly for companies and industries that can be difficult to understand or explain. Shank joined Merritt as a partner after a career that included nearly 30 years in media relations, reputation management and crisis communications. He began his career as a television reporter and weekend anchor in Montana before moving into PR. Pasted text
Why Media Relations Is So Difficult
The guests identify media relations as perhaps the toughest and most misunderstood job in PR because PR professionals don’t control whether journalists will use their pitches.
Clients often want measurable KPIs, but media coverage can’t be guaranteed. Successful media relations requires more than sending press releases or making contacts. A PR professional needs to:
-
- Understand the journalist’s beat.
- Research the journalist and publication.
- Understand the publication’s audience.
- Identify the actual story within a client’s information.
- Explain why that story matters to readers.
- Accept substantial rejection.
Merritt describes media relations as requiring an almost instinctive ability to recognize what will make a journalist stop and pay attention. Shank describes PR professionals as essentially selling stories and ideas to journalists. Pasted text
One of their strongest points is that PR people shouldn’t really think they’re pitching the journalist. They’re pitching the journalist’s audience. The journalist is the conduit between the story and the readers or viewers. Pasted text
The Problem With “Spray and Pray”
The discussion strongly criticizes mass pitching. Using tools such as media databases to generate huge lists of journalists and sending essentially the same pitch to everyone is characterized as inefficient and damaging to a PR professional’s reputation.
A pitch about sex toys or zoo animals sent to a transportation journalist is used humorously to illustrate the problem.
The guests argue that relevance is more important than volume. A PR person who repeatedly sends irrelevant pitches can burn relationships with journalists. Knowing who you’re contacting—and why the story matters to that particular audience — is fundamental to good media relations. Pasted text
AI Is Changing How Stories Get Found
The conversation then turns to artificial intelligence and the changing nature of search.
The host notes that journalists once relied heavily on Google Trends to determine what people were interested in. Now, journalists increasingly have to consider what people are asking AI systems such as ChatGPT.
The PR executives believe AI can help identify trends, potential story angles and appropriate journalists, but it doesn’t eliminate the importance of human judgment.
Their approach is essentially:
Find the trend → determine where the client fits → identify the right journalist → provide useful expertise or information.
They stress that PR professionals are still ultimately people pitching people, not pitching an AI system. Highly relevant stories, publications and sources are more likely to surface in AI-generated answers because relevance is an important part of how those systems connect information. Pasted text
The host describes the process as almost working backward from AI: asking what people are wondering about and then determining whether there is a story that answers those questions.
Journalism Experience Is Valuable in PR
Shank’s background as a television journalist has helped him enormously in PR because he understands how newsrooms work.
He knows:
-
- How deadlines affect journalists.
- What makes a story useful.
- How reporters evaluate information.
- How stories are developed.
- How journalists think about pitches.
He says journalists sometimes regard people who move into PR as having gone to “the dark side,” although he believes that attitude has diminished.
Importantly, the guests don’t believe someone has to be a former journalist to be an excellent PR professional. Merritt is cited as an example: despite not having worked in a newsroom, he has developed a strong understanding of how journalists operate. Pasted text
Who Gets to Call Themselves a Journalist?
The second major topic is the increasingly difficult question of what constitutes a journalist.
In the traditional media world, the distinction was relatively straightforward. Journalists worked for established newspapers, magazines, television or radio outlets and were listed in recognized media directories.
Today, however, the landscape includes:
-
- Traditional news organizations
- Independent journalists
- Blogs
- Substack writers
- Influencers
- Industry-specific publications
- Content creators
- Former mainstream journalists operating independently
Merritt says there is no governing body that officially determines who is or isn’t a journalist. Instead, Strategic Global Media focuses on who is valuable and credible to pitch, rather than getting hung up on a formal definition. Pasted text
Relevance, Credibility and Influence
Shank proposes three important factors for evaluating today’s media and content creators:
-
- Relevance — Does the person actually reach the audience that matters?
- Credibility — Do they care about facts and accuracy?
- Influence — Do they meaningfully affect their audience?
He argues that where someone works is less important than how they work.
A journalist writing independently on Substack can be just as valuable to a PR campaign as someone employed by a major newspaper if that person has the right audience, credibility and influence. Pasted text
Ethics Still Matter
Despite the changing definition of journalism, the participants agree that accuracy, fairness, context and ethics remain essential.
They acknowledge that even established media organizations can sometimes take liberties with the truth. At the same time, simply publishing something online doesn’t automatically make someone a journalist.
One useful test is how someone responds when they make a mistake. Do they:
-
- Check facts?
- Conduct interviews?
- Correct errors?
- Respond to credible challenges?
- Take accuracy seriously?
The ability and willingness to correct mistakes is presented as an important indicator of credibility. Pasted text
The Best Media Outlet Isn’t Always the Biggest
Another important lesson is that PR success isn’t necessarily about landing coverage in the biggest publication.
For a highly specialized B2B company, an article in the Wall Street Journal might look impressive but have relatively little practical impact. A respected trade publication read by the company’s actual customers could be much more valuable.
Conversely, if a B2B company’s story suddenly affects ordinary consumers, then mainstream outlets such as the New York Times or Wall Street Journal may become appropriate targets.
The key question is:
Where will this story matter most?
The agency therefore works backward from the client’s objective rather than simply pursuing high-profile media placements. Pasted text
The Ultimate Goal of PR
The final point is that media coverage shouldn’t exist simply for the sake of generating coverage.
PR professionals need to determine the endgame:
-
- Is the objective awareness?
- Is it credibility?
- Is it supporting sales?
- Is it establishing a CEO as an expert?
- Is it providing “air cover” for salespeople?
- Is it changing the company’s reputation?
Merritt and Shank emphasize that PR strategy should always connect media activity to a larger business objective. Pasted text
Key Takeaway
The central argument of the discussion is that good PR is fundamentally about relevance, relationships and judgment — not simply generating as many media placements as possible.
The best PR professionals understand both sides of the equation: what their clients need and what journalists — and their audiences — actually care about. AI can help identify trends and opportunities, but it doesn’t replace the human ability to understand a story, identify the right journalist and make a relevant pitch.
Likewise, modern journalism may no longer be defined by an employer or traditional media credential. Instead, credibility, relevance, influence, accuracy and journalistic ethics are increasingly what distinguish a journalist or credible independent media creator from someone who simply publishes opinions online.
