Categories: OLD Media Moves

Auto reporter, at Chrysler since 2005, returns to fourth estate

Ed Garsten

Ed Garsten, who left his job as an auto reporter for the Detroit News in 2005 to work for Daimler Chrysler, has returned to journalism with a job at Automotive News.

Garsten writes, “My goal had always been to finish out my career back in news and I’m thrilled to announce I start today as a part-time video reporter for the Automotive News. This way I’ll be able to resume covering the most fascinating, unpredictable and vital industry with a premier news organization while remaining semi-retired.

“The Automotive News has a special place in my heart. When I was laid off from CNN in 2001 after almost 20 years I found that local TV stations in Detroit were not interested in an ex-network guy and I did not want to move my family since my kids were still in school. I decided to contact Ed Lapham, the editor of the Automotive News, whom I’d interviewed many times on CNN as an industry analyst. Print people are generally skeptical of the writing abilities of broadcast journalists but Ed made me a deal. I could write some stories as a freelancer as a sort of audition. If I passed the test, perhaps there would be full time job for me. I passed the test after 6  or 7 stories but alas, there were no open positions.

“The experience, however, gave me confidence I could function well in the print world. One day I got a call from the Detroit bureau chief at the Associated Press who was looking for a new national auto writer. He too, wasn’t sure a TV guy could hack it in the print world but the Automotive News clips I provided sealed the deal. A little over a year later, the Detroit News recruited me for the GM beat writer job. I can say with great candor that without the chance given to me at the Automotive News my post-CNN/broadcast life might have been very different, and certainly not as lucrative.”

Read more here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.

Recent Posts

LinkedIn finance editor Singh departs

Manas Pratap Singh, finance editor for LinkedIn News Europe, has left for a new opportunity…

1 day ago

Washington Post announces start of third newsroom

Washington Post executive editor Matt Murray sent out the following on Friday: Dear All, Over the last…

2 days ago

FT hires Moens to cover competition and tech in Brussels

The Financial Times has hired Barbara Moens to cover competition and tech in Brussels. She will start…

2 days ago

Deputy tech editor Haselton departs CNBC for The Verge

CNBC.com deputy technology editor Todd Haselton is leaving the news organization for a job at The Verge.…

2 days ago

“Power Lunch” co-anchor Tyler Mathisen is leaving CNBC

Note from CNBC Business News senior vice president Dan Colarusso: After more than 27 years…

2 days ago

Upset CoinDesk staffers send letter to owner

Members of the CoinDesk editorial team have sent a letter to the CEO of its…

2 days ago