RUNNING HEAD: SPORT JOURNALIST CREDIBILITY STRATEGIES
Sport Journalists’ Best Practices: A Compilation of Credibility Strategies
Aynav Leibowitz
Trinity University
SPORT JOURNALIST CREDIBILITY STRATEGIES
Abstract
This white paper investigates the ways in which currently well-known, credible sport journalists
build their credibility. In order to better understand journalistic credibility, this paper utilizes
Hovland & Weiss’ (1951) two-section definition as the foundation: 1. Trustworthiness and
knowledge of the journalist, and 2. Credibility of the publication. These sections, along with
nine interviews conducted with nationally recognized sport journalists, represent key ideas that
ultimately develop a list of best practices that is recommended for an aspiring sport journalist to
follow in order to attain success in the sport journalism field.
Keywords: sport journalist, journalistic credibility
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Goals and Objectives
Considering the difficulty in breaking into the sport journalism field, this paper serves as
a tool toward pursuing my sport journalist career objective. It not only allowed me to interview
currently successful print and broadcast sport journalists, ultimately putting my name out there
for potential employers, but I collected responses and research that have exposed general trends
and commonalities amongst some successful sport journalists. These trends are ultimately
organized in a clear and logical “best practices” list for myself, as well as others, to implement in
order to attain journalistic credibility.
Background
Throughout the summer of 2015, bloggers and sport journalists alike shared various
potential scenarios for the results of two influential aspects of the National Basketball
Association’s (NBA) offseason: the 2015 NBA Draft and NBA free agency. Anyone that got
ahold of any insider information regarding the results of either would become extremely
important to basketball fans, as well as other sport journalists looking for the answers.
There were two sport journalists that took over the NBA offseason: Yahoo Sports’ Adrian
Wojnarowski and ESPN’s Marc Stein, (Mustard 2015). The two were a force to be reckoned
with in finding out the latest breaking NBA news first - arguably before some teams’ front
offices. From free agency decisions to ruling out rumors, Stein and Wojnarowski were the ones
that somehow knew the truth behind the madness.
It even reached a point where Wojnarowski managed to tweet out each 2015 NBA draft
pick minutes before they were announced to the world on a televised outlet, (Mustard 2015).
But how?
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In the following sections, I will break down exactly how influential sport journalists, like
Wojnarowski and Stein, build their journalistic credibility to reach the ultimate position of being
particularly sought out for information.
General Foundation
In this section, the following key constructs of the industry question will be defined: sport
journalism and journalistic credibility.
Sport Journalism
Definition. Within the context of this white paper, the term ‘sport journalist’
encompasses regionally and nationally recognized print or cablecast journalists specializing in
the topic of sports. These topics related to sports range from game recaps to athlete features and
sports’ societal impacts, which will be further explained in the following subsection (Sport
Journalism 2015).
Purpose. The importance of sport journalists exponentially grew as the idea of
“profitable play” entered the sport field (Rowe 2014).
“The commercialization of sport and the commodification of athletes (transformed from
casual ‘players’ into sports workers selling their athletic labor power as ‘products’
bought and sold on the sport market) opened up a deep schism within the institutional
ideology of sport itself” (Rowe 2014).
Seeing sport journalism as a form of commercialization presents an interesting point to the sport
journalists’ goals in that they offer sports a sense of popularity and importance within our
society.
Sport, as it has been defined as a microcosm of society, becomes more than following a
favorite team, rather fans are suddenly interested in their favorite athletes’ personal decisions,
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which ultimately lead to a conversation about society’s stance on the situation. This can include
the participation of community service all the way to more extreme cases such as domestic
violence or drug abuse.
That being said, sport journalists suddenly have the obligation to vocalize these decisions
and express them to fans and non-sports fans alike, ultimately starting a conversation of potential
change. Guttman (1978) asserts this claim of sport being a microcosm of society:
“One of the greatest advantages… is that it enables one to see in the microcosm (modern
sports) and the characteristics of the macrocosm (modern society) - secularism, equality,
specialization, rationalism, bureaucratic organization and quantification. These six
characteristics, plus the quest for records which appear even more strikingly in modern
sports than in the rest of the social order, are interdependent, systematically related
elements of the ideal type of modern society.”
Expanding on this definition, though sport can offer society an outlook of the “ideal modern
society” that Guttman (1978) proposes, the opposite stands true as well as sport emphasizing the
troubles our society has.
Considering this broader understanding of sport and its relation to modern society, sport
journalists have an obligation to their readers to be a credible source of information. Though
seemingly simple, this credibility building takes a multitude of steps and time.
Journalistic Credibility
Journalistic credibility defined. “The only thing I have is my credibility. I got nothing
else. If [readers] don’t believe what I write and say, what’s the point of doing this?” said Turner
television personality for TNT, TBS and TBD David Aldridge (2015). When delving into the
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various definitions for “journalistic credibility,” the author wanted to choose a definition that
encompassed all definitions that held to be true with the research.
Dictionary.com (2015) defined credibility as “the quality of being believable or worthy of
trust.” Merriam-Webster (2015) defined credibility as “the quality or power of inspiring belief.”
The focus on believability was interesting, but seemed too vague for the purpose of this white
paper. Furthermore, the author was concerned that belief doesn’t necessarily encompass any sort
of knowledge or accuracy.
The American Press Institute (2015) defined credibility with a journalists’ “accuracy,
intellectual fairness and ability to inform.” According to Hovland & Weiss, journalistic
credibility is broken up into two sections: 1. Trustworthiness and knowledge of the journalist,
and 2. Credibility of publication (1951). Though the American Press Institute offered a similar
definition, the author felt as though Hovland & Weiss (1951) included the most aspects that
research supported. There was also a genuine interest regarding whether credibility of
publication offers credibility to the journalist.
For the purpose of this work, the author used Hovland & Weiss’ (1951) definition as the
basic structure of the credibility building recommendations.
That said, steps toward building journalistic credibility will be organized based on the
following categories: trustworthiness, knowledge and credibility of publication (Hovland &
Weiss 1951).
Method
When deciding on the interviewers, the author reached out to direct connections from
past jobs and internships. After interviewing those individuals, the author would ask if they
knew of other sport journalists that would be interested in participating in the study. From that,
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the author interviewed a total of 10 individuals in the span of three weeks, where only one
interview was unusable. These interviews ranged between a few minutes to two hours, offering
a significant amount of insight and perspective within the resulted recommendations.
Though the author started by preparing around 20-30 questions, the interviews ultimately
consisted of four prepared questions related to personal background (i.e. schooling, initial job,
etc.), how the sport journalist felt as though they built or are building their credibility, how
relationship building played a part in that credibility and their social media usage. These
questions were chosen in part to fit the Hovland & Weiss (1951) definition but also based on the
flow of the interviews.
It is imperative to note that these were not the only questions asked; rather served as the
skeleton of the conversations. Follow-up questions occurred naturally as the conversation
developed.
Results
Working off the foundation of Hovland & Weiss (1951), the steps toward journalistic
credibility starts by investigating trustworthiness as it relates to personal attitude and gender
implications. Next, knowledge is explained with the following sections: “have a clue,” further
research and saying “I don’t know” is okay. Once that section is completed, credibility of
publication is explored as a foundation for journalists’ credibility.
After these three sections, the author offers an “others” category that explains imperative
aspects of sport journalism credibility that were mentioned during each interview, but do not
necessarily fit within the categories of the chosen definition. The “others” section includes
explanations regarding relationship building and Twitter.
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Trustworthiness.
“Attitude is everything.” Regarding credibility within your field, Houston Chronicle’s
assistant sports editor Jenny Dial Creech (see appendix for biography of Dial Creech) explained
that she “believe[s] the way you carry yourself, the way you ask your questions and the way you
speak and treat people is what’s going to make them think you’re a professional or not” (2015).
This idea is supported based on a contributor on CubReporters.org (2010), who explained
“attitude is everything.” Though there is some credibility in writing for a well-recognized
publication, that trustworthiness comes from the attitude and treatment a sport journalist has
toward their colleagues.
Creator of State of the Texans Patrick Starr (see appendix for biography of Starr)
expressed similar thoughts in that he makes an effort to introduce himself to his media
counterparts:
“One thing I always make sure of when I see a big name, big entity - like a John Clayton
- if I see those guys, I make sure to shake their hand and tell them hello, introduce
myself. They may never remember me, but ultimately, it’s all about shaking a hand and
talking to them because you never know” (2015).
This idea of “never knowing” relates to potentially gaining a new source of information or a
potential mentor. As clearly expressed by all the interviews, but more predominantly by Starr
(2015) is that in the sport journalism business “at one point of time in the entire scheme of
things, you’re going to need someone’s help.”
This idea will be further explained in the relationship building section since they are so
closely connected. That said, it is essential to carry one’s self with professionalism and respect
toward co-workers and other sport journalists.
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Gender can make a difference. Though this is a huge topic that can have its own white
paper, it is imperative when talking about sport journalism to note that there are struggles solely
for women to build their credibility in such a stereotypically male-dominated field.
Hahn & Cummins (2014) explored, in depth, the effects gender has on credibility.
Interestingly, the two researchers defined credibility based on Hovland & Weiss’ (1951)
definition as well, and explained the determinants of credibility as follows: source attractiveness,
competence and gender. According to their research, attractiveness determined whether the sport
journalist was “more credible, trustworthy, socially competent and intellectually competent”
(Hahn & Cummins 2014).
That being said, Hahn & Cummins’ (2014) research also found that “in the context of
sport, highly attractive sources can be perceived as less credible.” Furthermore, “attractive
women were evaluated to be less credible than their male counterparts when covering male
sports” (Hahn & Cummins 2014). This unfortunate connection between gender and an apparent
stereotyped understanding of who is or isn’t competent to report on sports offers an extensive
issue for women trying to pursue careers in sport journalism.
This difficulty regarding gender was expressed through each female sports journalist
interview I had spoken with.
Associate editor at USA Today’s Sport Media Group Maggie Hendricks (see appendix for
biography of Hendricks) described a recurring experience of being asked trivia questions when
saying she is a sport journalist:
“It’s difficult for women to get into this field because of inconsistent notions that women
can’t get into sports or be in the field… That is my number one thing... That I am not going to try
to prove myself by answering all your trivia questions. I may not know but I do know where to
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look it up… [and] I can show through my writing that I know my shit and I can continue to
learn” (2015).
Knowledge
“Have a clue.” When it comes to interacting with your interviewers, in the case of sport
journalists, athletes and coaches, Dial Creech (2015) said “that being prepared and asking the
right questions is going to make [athletes and coaches] take you seriously more than anyone
else.” With that, she mentioned dressing appropriately and assuring that no flirtatious vibes
could be potentially translated were two ways in which she, herself, builds that credibility (Dial
Creech 2015).
This is directly associated with “having a clue,” meaning to essentially understand
context. Before being able to express intellect and ability to formulate a question regarding
virtually anything, nonverbal cues (such as dress, vibe or confidence regarding preparation) have
a strong ability to determine the way in which people will view a sport journalist.
According to human communication researcher Rothwell (2013), people tend to carry
nonverbal communication with more weight than verbal communication. This is because it is
much easier to verbally communicate an interest or excitement, but if the nonverbals don’t
match, the statement naturally will not be taken seriously. Rothwell (2013) expressed that these
nonverbals have the ability to truly break down any possibility of strong communication. That
said, as Dial Creech mentions, it is imperative to emote professionalism with tone and dress as a
signifier of credibility.
In regards to asking the right questions, Dial Creech started off her professional sport
journalism career covering sports teams at the University of Oklahoma. Focusing just on her
coverage on OU’s basketball team for the case of this particular example, Dial Creech explained
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how understanding the true game of basketball led her to asking well-informed questions and,
therefore, helped her become a more respected and credible sport journalist:
“The OU basketball team would slow down, play zone, the scoring was really low and
most people hate that. I love that kind of basketball, so I was all over it. The coach
recognized that I knew what I was talking about… I think that’s the best way to earn
credibility when you’re starting out. It’s to have a clue” (Dial Creech 2015).
Further research. This general idea of “having a clue” came up with every interview
conducted for this white paper, but was even more prevalent with freelance journalist and writer
Jessica Luther (see appendix for biography of Luther). Luther, who has been featured in Texas
Monthly, Sports Illustrated, Bleacher Report and ESPN’s Outside the Lines, just to name a few,
specializes in sports and how it relates to sexual assault culture. Considering the sensitivity of
this topic, it is imperative for Luther to fully understand her topic and the ways in which she
must approach her interviewers. She explained:
“One of the things I have learned… is that survivors like to tell me their stories, so I hear
a lot of stories from all kinds of people. A thing particularly about my beat is that there is a thing
about survivors that most people don’t believe them” (Luther 2015).
Understanding this notion that most of the survivors she speaks to don’t feel as though
they are believed, Luther has to approach the story in a very careful manner. Luther (2015)
explains that she does her research by asking a personal friend, who happens to be a rape
survivor, to double-check her questions to assure she will not offend her interviewers.
Furthermore, Luther (2015) does extensive research and reading on the given topic to assure her
knowledge is as extensive as needed to accurately depict the given story. This further research
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proves to help Luther as she has built a credibility that lends her to be personally sought out to
write these particular stories.
That being said, regardless of the seriousness with the subject being covered, it is
imperative to have extensive knowledge on the topic.
Saying “I don’t know” is okay. Though as a sport journalist, one is generally expected to
be an expert in that particular realm of sports, an interesting aspect that asserts credibility is this
idea of accepting potentially not knowing.
Houston Chronicle’s John McClain (see appendix for biography of McClain), who has
been a sport journalist for 43 years, admits not knowing an aspect of information will not be the
end of a journalist’s career.
“Sometimes people ask me stuff, I say, ‘I don’t know…’ It humanizes you to say you
don’t know. Some guys act like they know everything, and when they don’t and screw up,
people listening are going to know it” (2015).
Aldridge agreed with this idea of not knowing everything and expanded on how owning
that ultimately helps build credibility:
“You have to acknowledge that you don’t know everything. In fact, you know very little.
I think part of the problem with journalism today is that we have so many people that are
so desperate to be on-air at ESPN or whatever show it is, they don’t understand that you
have to build credibility, and to do so, you have to acknowledge that there are things you
don’t know” (2015).
Aldridge continued to explain that saying you don’t know achieves two things. It lets the
journalist set him or herself up for an opportunity to learn while expressing to coaches and
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athletes that you want to get your information right. That ultimately sets a high precedent for the
sport journalist.
“You aren’t operating at a place of ignorance. You are operating at a point of
understanding” (Aldridge 2015).
Credibility of Publication
Publication is only the foundation. According to Hovland & Weiss’ (1951) definition,
credibility comes from the idea of trustworthiness and knowledge toward the journalist relaying
the particular message. This trustworthiness and knowledge, based on Hovland & Weiss,
becomes dependent on the credibility of the source the journalist is writing for (1951).
An example of this would be a journalist from the Houston Chronicle, the sixth largest
newspaper in the United States compared to a reporter from TMZ, a leading gossip and
entertainment publication. Though both are well-known publications, the Houston Chronicle
simply carries more weight in trustworthiness, in terms of news and general journalism, and will
therefore mimic the same sort of values amongst the journalists writing for ‘said’ publication.
A way of determining this would be intent. Intent can simply be found in a publication’s
“about” sections found in either websites. TMZ’s “about” section expresses pride regarding
breaking Mel Gibson’s DUI arrest and Britney Spears’ divorce, (About TMZ.com). Conversely,
the Houston Chronicle expresses its coverage in local issues along with a “[commitment] to
covering state, national and international news,” (Houston Chronicle | Hearst). That being said,
generally, an article published in the Houston Chronicle regarding state, national and
internationally weighted news will be understood with more credibility than that of TMZ.
ESPN personality Robert Flores (see appendix for biography of Flores) agreed with this
idea as he said:
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“I think that working at a place like ESPN for that long helps with the credibility and
hopefully fans recognize you and become familiar with your work. But also with your
colleagues and your bosses. Hopefully, you’ve been there long enough for them to build
trust in me that I’m going to do a good job, do it correctly and do it accurately” (2015).
This became an interesting point that Flores made because it explains that working for a big
publication doesn’t necessarily build credibility, rather a sport journalist needs to build
credibility in order to associate with the big publication.
Dial Creech mentioned that though the title of the publication may immediately give her
credibility, there are two ways of building on that credibility: one is among your fellow sport
journalists and the other among the individuals that you interview, (Dial Creech 2015). This
distinction will be clarified and expanded upon in the following relationship building section.
Other Findings
Relationship Building. Relationship building, for the purpose of this white paper, will be
broken down into two sections: sources and mentorship.
Sources. As referenced previously, Yahoo Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski broke an
impressive amount of NBA free agency and draft stories throughout the summer of 2015. Yet,
the key to this type of investigative journalism is having, as the saying has it, “the biggest
Rolodex in the business,” and that is exactly how Wojnarowski did it.
After having just been hired by Yahoo in 2007, Wojnarowski was advised by his boss,
Johnny Ludden, to meet San Antonio Express-News NBA and Spurs reporter and columnist Mike
Monroe. Upon their meeting, Monroe (see appendix for biography of Monroe) offered
Wojnarowski two key pieces of advice: 1. Never get rid of a phone number and 2. Agents are the
key (2015).
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These two pieces of advice are what led Monroe to his personal success as a credible
sport journalist. By following such practices, Monroe was able to build his credibility toward
breaking the 2015 “summer of mystery” regarding the Spurs’ roster. The majority of the Spurs’
roster was filled with free agents, including two of the biggest stories: whether 39-year-old
center Tim Duncan and 38-year-old shooting guard Manu Ginobili were going to renew and
extend their contracts. Ginobili said he would be announcing his decision in a local Argentinian
newspaper, La Nacion, which left Duncan’s story to be revealed by a lucky sport journalist.
As the Spurs’ season came to an end after a disappointing, and arguably early, loss in the
2015 playoffs against the Los Angeles Clippers, Monroe said “After the loss in game seven, I
walked up to [Duncan] and said, ‘Tim, it’s a big summer for you. You have a big decision to
make, and it’s a big summer for me,’ and he said, ‘Don’t worry. I’ll take care of you’” (2015). A
few months later, Monroe (2015) received a text from Duncan essentially saying that he had a
chance to speak with Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich and that he will be returning to the court
for the 2015 season, ending the text with an invitation to call if he had any follow-up questions.
This type of trust, as explained by Monroe (2015), and the idea of being approached to
break a story doesn’t simply come with credibility, but a steady relationship. That is exactly how
Monroe was able to break such a critical story for the future of the San Antonio Spurs’ 18-year
veteran.
In an interview with GQ Magazine, Wojnarowski was asked if he knew the 2015 draft
picks before they were announced, to which he answered:
“I feel like I have a pretty good framework of how it might go. But even the Laker one, to
the end, I wasn’t sure. Jahlil Okafor and D’Angelo Russell’s agents, they were sitting
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right in front of me, and they were looking at me going, do you know yet? and I didn’t”
(Wojnarowski 2015).
But the reality that GQ Magazine failed to ask was what Wojnarowski was doing, simply
hanging out with these future professional athletes’ agents and apparently not knowing the
results, though he released them on his personal Twitter account based on “Yahoo! sources”
(Wojnarowski Twitter 2015). Referencing Monroe’s (2015) earlier advice: agents are key. And
that is exactly what Wojnarowski made sure to master.
Mentors. Each individual interviewed expressed the same notion that at some point or
time, people wanting to get into the sport journalism field will need some sort of help. Each
interviewer mentioned had multiple mentors starting from college to their first few jobs.
“I can’t reiterate enough that it is important to have mentors and asking for help. If you
want to do good work and build credibility, then you’re going to need other people to show you
how to do that” said Luther (2015).
The only individual that expressed a unique experience with mentorship was Starr (2015)
as he said he didn’t necessarily have mentors since he felt as though being a fan site reporter
downgraded his credibility. That said, Starr would watch other reporters to see how they worked
and carried those practices onto his own methods (2015).
That said, as Aldridge (2015) mentions, no one can do it alone, and even though there
may not be a set mentor, observing and learning from others that are currently in the business is
key.
Twitter. Twitter was founded in 2006 but only really caught on to sport journalists in
2007 (Carlson 2011, Dial Creech 2015).
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“It was my second year at the Chronicle, and I was told ‘hey, you really need to get this
thing called Twitter’ and I said ‘...okay…’ because at the time, we were already doing an online
chat” (Dial Creech 2015).
At the time, Dial Creech (2015) explained that she would simply use her BlackBerry
phone to send a text and the message would show up on Twitter. At the time, she only used it to
text the score of the game she was covering.
Considering that simple usage, Twitter has blown up in, not only popularity, but
usefulness and ease in spreading sports news and updates for sport journalists. Yet, the
popularity didn’t set in very quickly within the sport journalism field.
“I thought Twitter was the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard when I first heard of it. I
thought it was 140 words and I thought that was stupid. How could you express any thought of
any depth in 140 words? They were like ‘no, it’s words, Grandpa’” (Aldridge 2015).
Aldridge continued to explain that though he didn’t understand the uses of Twitter at
first, he understood that it was the way to communicate with the younger generation.
“You can be stubborn and talk about the good ol’ days or you can get with the program.
It’s pretty simple,” (Aldridge 2015).
Along similar lines, McClain explained that he had journalist friends that didn’t jump
onto the Internet bandwagon at all and ended up losing their jobs.
“When the Internet came out, nobody knew what it was. A lot of people that I know did
not embrace it. I decided I better embrace it because I didn’t want to be an old dog that
can’t learn new tricks. If you didn’t embrace it, you got laid off. That’s what happened.
So many of my friends didn’t embrace the Internet, they fought it and now they are out of
a job” (2015).
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Twitter in action. “If there was no social media, I would have never made it,” stated
Starr (2015). Starr (2015) explained that the way in which he started to build his credibility had
to do with proving to his audience, utilizing Twitter as his main outlet, that he has the
information that they want.
Starting off as an active Texans’ fan blog contributor, Starr was able to truly make a
name for himself as he did an extensive profile of the 2011 Texans’ draft class. The article
caught a significant amount of traction and traffic toward this small blogging website, which
Starr wished to keep anonymous. After gaining so much positive feedback and hoping to focus
on putting out more successful pieces, the blog decided to let go of Starr, claiming they wished
to “go another direction.”
The devastation motivated Starr to create State of the Texans, which, as of last summer, is
owned by Scout.com, a leader in National Football League (NFL) information. This fan-blog
turned website publication is the first independent site to be credentialed by the Texans, as Starr
is regarded as highly as Associated Press (AP) or ESPN.
Yet, what sets this particular publication apart from the rest is the specialization that it
can offer. Starr (2015) uses training camp as an example:
“When training camp arrives, there’s 90 people. Every 90 of these people have a story they all have something about them. What ends up happening is that the bigger entities
end up covering, in reality, like 15 players, and those are the big names. But then you
have all this wealth of information that people want to know… So you end up
interviewing all these other people that no one else is covering. This ends up being 40-70
players that are getting no publicity” (Starr 2015).
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This was essentially Starr’s attempt at getting noticed. Having an abundance of information was
fantastic, but then he needed to put it somewhere for a huge audience to stumble upon.
That’s where social media comes into play.
According to Schultz, B., & Sheffer, M. L. (2010), sport journalism must be “an
instantaneous, interactive, inter-media conglomeration,” that is made up of, “part traditional
reporter, part blog, part Twitter, part Facebook, part YouTube, and part text messaging.” This
meaning, though Twitter may not necessarily be the main social media or way in which a writer
reaches out to his or her audience similar to Starr, it will end up being a medium that writers
have to somehow interweave into their practice.
This idea relates to the requirement of being a multi-faceted journalist. As understood in
Toney’s (2012) research, sport journalists have a responsibility to be able to do everything in the
field, whether that be broadcast, radio, print and regardless of the medium, it is expected to be on
social media for “followers” to reach and respond. That response, in regards to Twitter, can be
quantified in a “favorite,” “retweet” or reply.
With this idea of Twitter popularity, Starr (2015) explained how “one ‘retweet’ by the
right person [can make] that article go crazy,” meaning that article or piece of information can go
viral.
Summary of Recommendations
Research suggests that an aspiring sport journalist would need to accommodate to the
following imperative aspects of success:
“Attitude is everything”
This encompasses the importance of having a positive and professional attitude in the
workplace. Whether that may be toward co-workers or “competition,” everyone can be a
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resource for help if they are treated and spoken with respect. To put it in the simplest of words,
be nice to people.
Gender can make a difference
Regardless of gender, it is imperative to treat people with the utmost respect. No gender,
regardless of the fact that sports is currently a male-dominated industry, has more of an innate
right or knowledge to cover sports than the other. Going alongside attitude, it is important to
show professionalism and respect toward your co-workers or apparent “competition.” This is
because if anyone is not on board with helping equalize the opportunities for both men and
women in the sport journalism field, little to no progress will be made.
“Have a clue”
Make sure to have a general foundation of the sport or team being written about as well
as a solid understanding of work context. That meaning, be aware of the nonverbal
communication that can skew people’s perceptions of professionalism, like dress code.
Further research
Research the chosen topic extensively. This is to assure the sport journalist is as
knowledgeable as she or he could be before the interviewing or writing process. This research
can set the difference between generic questions or detail-specific questions that innately show
previous research and understanding.
Saying “I don’t know” is okay
As Aldridge says, operate at a point of understanding as opposed to a place of ignorance.
Asking for clarification or saying you don’t know doesn’t immediately take away credibility. It
is impossible to know every fact regarding a given sport or athlete. Rather, depending on the
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level of professionalism the sport journalist holds him or herself, admitting a lack of
understanding can be an opportunity to learn and better report on the subject.
Publication is only the foundation
Credibility doesn’t simply come from working at a big publication. Though it may be an
instinct to want to immediately work for ESPN or similarly popular sport entities, aspects
regarding trustworthiness and knowledge come before working at a hugely recognized
publication.
Build and maintain relationships
It is imperative with sport journalism to have mentors, people to learn from and sources
to give you tips of information. With both, sources and mentorships must be maintained just like
any type of friendship. This industry is almost solely based on knowing people, and maintaining
relationships with these people is essential.
Twitter
Having a presence on such a popular platform can help fans and potential employers see
who knows the information that they want to know. Journalism is no longer a stagnant field
where a journalist is strictly print or broadcast. Rather, it is a multi-faceted industry, and social
media presence has become imperative to that.
Appendix
Biography
David Aldridge. Aldridge graduated from American University with a double major in
print journalism and history. He knew he wanted to pursue journalism, but had no intention to
go the sports route. As a student, Aldridge covered news for the school paper, and by the time he
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was junior, Aldridge was named editor-in-chief. At the time, upon graduating, Aldridge thought
he would be a history teacher until, as he says, a series of happy accidents occurred.
A close friend, who also worked with Aldridge on the school paper, had been working
part-time for the Washington Post covering high school sports. He told Aldridge that they were
looking for more stringers, as they were called. Aldridge contacted the high school sports editor
at the time and essentially started covering high school basketball and football part-time for the
Post his senior year at American University.
Upon graduating, Aldridge was encouraged to apply for the Washington Post’s internship
program and ultimately got it. The internship gave him hands-on experience covering a variety
of sporting events including Jimmy Connor’s last tennis tournament and some Orioles games.
Once the internship concluded, Aldridge’s happy accidents continued. The Post ended up having
an opening for general sport assignments to which Aldridge applied and received. He did that
for a year, covering the US Tennis Open, Indy 500 and a World Series. After, Aldridge was
named the beat writer for the Washington Bullets and pursued that opportunity for five years.
After those five years, Aldridge was asked to cover the Washington Redskins, which as
explained by Aldridge, is the second most important beat at the Post right after the President of
the United States. He held that position for three years when he was finally ready to move on to
the next opportunity. Out of the blue, ESPN called asking Aldridge if he would be interested in
being a full-time NBA reporter, to which Aldridge enthusiastically accepted. He stayed at ESPN
for eight years until 2004 when they decided not to renew Aldridge’s contract.
From that point, Aldridge juggled two jobs: one with Turner, where he was an NBA
insider, and one with the Philadelphia Inquirer, covering the NFL. Both opportunities proved to
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be very rewarding, as Aldridge even got to cover the 2004 Super Bowl. After three years, the
commuting became very strenuous. Aldridge ultimately left the Philadelphia Inquirer and has
been working at Turner, home of TNT, TBS and TBD, full-time ever since.
Jenny Dial Creech. Dial Creech knew her passion for journalism as early as junior
high. She was the yearbook editor while also writing about sports on the side. In 2000, Dial
Creech decided to attend the University of Oklahoma after hearing they received at $23 million
grant to upgrade their school of journalism into a college of journalism. This proved to be the
best decision for Dial Creech as that became the year that OU won the national championship,
men and women’s basketball teams made it to the final four and both baseball and softball teams
proved to be very competitive. This perfect storm led to national newspapers wanting coverage
on OU and ultimately looking for freelancers. Dial Creech would volunteer for absolutely any
opportunity that was given. From that point, she had interned for the San Antonio Express-News,
Sports Illustrated and United States Olympic Committee while freelancing for different papers
around the country.
Right out of college, Dial Creech was hired at the Houston Chronicle as a freelancer,
contractor and copy editor. It only took three months for Dial Creech to move up as a high
school writer. Since she wasn’t under any sort of contract, Dial Creech was able to freelance for
other newspapers or TV stations alike. This quickly changed as Dial Creech started to break
important stories regarding high school sports and was soon hired by the Houston Chronicle fulltime.
Since then, Dial Creech has moved up to high school sports editor, Houston Rockets beat
writer and currently holds the title of assistant sports editor. While doing this, Dial Creech has
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established herself as a speaker and instructor for the Columbia Scholastic Press Association as
well as the vice president of fundraising for the Association for Women in Sports Media.
Robert Flores. Initially thinking he wanted to go into business, Flores took a class in the
major his sophomore year and within the first 10 minutes knew it wasn’t for him. From that
point, he focused his efforts on his passion for sport journalism. While Flores was in school, he
received a part-time associate producer position for the sports department at the CBS-affiliate
KHOU. Flores continued to work at KHOU six months after graduating from the University of
Houston with a Bachelor of Arts in Radio and Television.
Flores went the “traditional” TV route as he got his first full-time, on-air position in the
small market of Monroe, Louisiana. From there, he moved on to a CBS-affiliate in Waco for six
years and then to Austin for four years. In 2005, Flores moved on to work for ESPN, where he
has been working as an anchor for ESPNEWS and SportsCenter among a few substitute studio
host positions.
Maggie Hendricks. Hendricks started off her career with a degree in interdisciplinary
studies from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a focus in public relations. Upon
graduating, Hendricks worked at a multitude of schools and agencies, specifically regarding
public relations. While working in public relations departments for a couple of school,
Hendricks started blogging and writing about sports.
In 2008, Yahoo was looking for individuals to cover the 2008 Beijing
Olympics. Hendricks applied and got the opportunity, which ultimately ended with her working
at Yahoo! for five years. During that time, she covered Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), the Olympics
and the NFL. She recently moved on to USA Today Sports Media Group and has been the
associate editor for the past two years.
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Jessica Luther. On the track of getting her PhD in history from the University of Texas
in Austin, Luther admitted that she had no idea getting paid to write was an option until a close
friend had mentioned it to her. Prior, she would blog, write and tweet for fun when she wasn’t
feeling inspired to complete her dissertation and sports seemed to be the main topic. Luther
immediately switched paths as soon as she realized people were willing to pay her for her
specialized field of women and sports.
After receiving help from a variety of mentors and learning to be detail-oriented, Luther’s
writing has been featured in Sports Illustrated, Bleacher Report, Texas Monthly and VICE
Sports, to name a few. The freelancer has also been featured on ESPN’s Outside the Lines and
SportsCenter, among many other radio and TV debuts, for her commentary and knowledge on
sexual assault as it relates to collegiate and professional sports.
John McClain. Upon graduating high school, McClain had no idea what he wanted to
do professionally. What he did know was that he loved sports. He particularly followed Baylor
University football, the Dallas Cowboys and Houston Astros, and watched them all
religiously. With that, McClain decided to attend Waco’s McLennan Community College to get
difficult classes out of the way in order to transfer into Baylor University.
One of the classes McClain ended up taking was “Introduction to Mass Communication,”
admittedly because he was told it was an easy course. In that class, he met Kurt Wallace, a
photographer for the Waco Tribune-Herald. After learning how much knowledge McClain had
regarding sports, Wallace told McClain of an opportunity to help the Waco Tribune-Herald with
Friday night football. Impressed by the $24 that the job paid, McClain and his then girlfriend
joined the group of 8-12 individuals that collected statistics and scores for high school football
on Friday nights.
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After collecting all the scores, McClain, along with the other Friday night football staff,
would give the information to the writers, and the writers would then write their
stories. Noticing that the Friday night staff would leave immediately after their job was done,
McClain was curious to stay and get to know the writers and learn more about the business. As
soon as McClain learned that as a sports writer, you could attend Baylor, Cowboys and Astros
games for free, he was sold.
From that point on, McClain took more journalism-related classes, worked for the
McLennan Community College newspaper, The Highland Herald, transferred to Baylor his
junior year and was hired by the Waco Tribune-Herald. After graduating in 1975, McClain
moved to Houston, Texas to work for the Houston Chronicle. McClain admits that he actually
lied in his interview to get his initial job with the Chronicle. The newspaper was looking for a
hockey writer and though McClain knew virtually nothing about the sport, he told them he grew
up reading about and watching hockey. After getting the job, McClain explained he had to take
a crash course and learn everything he could about the sport.
In 1978, McClain moved on to be the NFL and the then Houston Oilers, now Houston
Texans, beat writer for the Houston Chronicle, and holds the same position to this day. He also
found a passion for radio and is a consistent contributor to 17 weekly sports talk shows in
Houston, Nashville, Knoxville, San Antonio, St. Louis, Austin, Waco, Corpus Christi and NBC
nationally. McClain is also a regular contributor on Fox Sports Southwest, The Sports Xchange,
Sports Illustrated, ESPN and The NFL Network, just to name a few.
Mike Monroe. After graduating from the University of Colorado with an economics
major and mathematics minor, Monroe had no clear intention on pursuing journalism. He
attended the Air Force Academy for two and a half years but ultimately left after having vision
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issues. Since his grandfather and father were avid in the newspaper business, Monroe had
learned the in’s and out’s of the business first hand while growing up. He admitted he has never
taken a journalism course in his life, rather he learned everything he knows from his father.
In 1968, Monroe was out of school and out of a job when he found a sports reporter
opening in his little hometown newspaper. Having the experience from his family and a few
newspaper clips from previous articles, he submitted his application and got the job. From there,
Monroe moved on to the Denver Post in 1971, where he started from the bottom of the totem
pole covering high school sports, working the sports desk and editing other reporters articles. He
gradually worked his way up until 1985, as he became the beat writer for the Denver Nuggets
and a mentor for many, including David Aldridge. In 2004, he moved to San Antonio, where he
currently resides, to cover the NBA and San Antonio Spurs for the San Antonio Express-News.
Patrick Starr. Starr’s initial interest in sport journalism started in high school as he was
asked to announce the junior high football games. Enjoying it thoroughly, Starr was asked to
continue calling football games for his high school when he was a senior at Texas Lutheran
University.
Upon graduating with a Bachelors of Arts in kinesiology and a minor in history, Starr
blogged for a small-time Houston Texans site, which he wished to keep anonymous. Starr had a
huge point of success as he created draft profiles for the Houston Texans’ 2011 draft class,
including the well-known and highly regarded defensive end J.J. Watt. This piece gave the site a
significant amount of traffic, giving Starr much self-gratitude. Regardless, the blogger site
decided to let Starr go.
Though it was a frustrating point in his career, Starr took this rejection as an opportunity
to start his own site called State of the Texans in 2011. State of the Texans ended up being the
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first independent site to be credentialed by the Houston Texans. From that point, Starr has
evolved the State of the Texans from a fan-site to a credible story-breaking site. Two and a half
to three years after Starr established the site, Scout.com picked up State of the Texans as its
National Football League (NFL) publisher for the Houston Texans, where Starr is the main
contributor.
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