Musk has a plausible sounding reason for everything. But when dismantling a PR department leads to the press not being able to ask Tesla any uncomfortable questions, then "organic press is better" is just as much bullshit as "self-driving is coming next year".

I'm not sure I understand this. Corporate PR departments are not the White House Press Office. They don't stand up in the briefing room and take questions from the press, or hold a press gaggle. The entire point of these departments is to deflect uncomfortable questions. It's exactly the opposite.

That's a good point. However, they are the go-to point for anyone wanting to ask a company a question. What does it say if a publicly traded company (or Musk) doesn't even want to do that minimum amount of work to at least pretend to be transparent?

Apparently journalists were pissed because they like PR departments giving them the nice treatment and also writing their articles for them.