In the sports media world, credibility is one of your most valuable assets. It’s the safeguard of your reputation as a voice in the industry. Having and bolstering credibility can expand your reach, increase your career prospects, and impress potential sponsors. Losing credibility can lead to career-altering setbacks.
In its purest form, credibility is the quality of being trusted or believed in. That trust is central to the stature of a sports media professional. Of course, your standard for credibility may be different depending on your specific focus, and the exact lens of credibility changes based on the type of information you’re dealing with.
A reporter or league insider, for instance, may have a very strict definition of credibility, as they’re expected to report league and team happenings to inform the public. An analyst in charge of subjective and opinion-based content, meanwhile, has a looser definition of credibility since they’re expected to educate their audience from their own judgment. The integrity of their process still matters, but their emphasis on fact is less apparent.
Imagine if audiences didn’t trust Adam Schefter or Shams Charania to report accurate transactions. Imagine if audiences didn’t trust Zach Lowe to provide comprehensive NBA analysis, or if they didn’t trust Mina Kimes to bring a thoughtful, analytical perspective to her ruminations on the NFL.
Regardless of your niche in the sports media landscape, credibility bears universal importance. Here are six ways you can build credibility as a sports media professional.
Research and Demonstrate Deep Knowledge
Regardless of your topic or sport, knowing all the intricacies of your particular focus is a requirement. Your research is the bedrock beneath your platform. You have to set your foundation before you can build off of it. And before you can demonstrate deep knowledge, you have to cultivate it.
Information has never been more accessible than it is now, and there are very few barriers to learning – so long as you keep an open mind. Use the accessibility of information to your advantage, and turn over every stone to broaden your understanding.
The research process doesn’t stop once you establish a platform, either. Your foundation is one that requires ongoing maintenance. Through that lens, it sounds like a chore – but research is also the tool that instills you with the confidence in your topic that you need in order to flourish and demonstrate the knowledge your audience expects.
Collaborate With Experts in Your Field
There is competition in sports media. That’s the reality of the field. But don’t fall into the trap of believing that beating the competition is what matters. Being adversarial only serves to create mental barriers within yourself, and it can impact your goodwill. There’s enough internet for all of us, after all.
Your voice and your platform is unique to you. However, instead of catering to it and it alone, find ways to collaborate with other thought leaders in your field. In doing so, you not only have a chance to learn more about your topic, but you can also create a sense of community, and attract viewers and readers from other audiences.
Be Positive and Constructive With Audience
On the surface, being positive and constructive aren’t issues directly related to credibility. However, when you impart your knowledge to your audience, you’ll ultimately provide them a window through which to view yourself.
It’s one thing to be informative. It’s another to incentivize an audience member to return to your page or your channel the next time they have questions. There’s a certain credibility that comes from being positive and constructive, so your audience knows you have their best interests in mind each time they come your way.
READ MORE: 7 Tips to Make Your Sports Writing More Captivating
Use Trusted Resources and Data – and Credit Them
Data can serve to enrich your content and analysis, just as it can improve your own knowledge. Don’t shy away from or shrug at data, statistics, and other resources. If it can help you inform your audience, it’s likely worth integrating, and using and crediting trusted sources will add to your credibility by proxy.
Some of you may use more data than others, depending on your focus, voice, and brand. The most important thing to remember with data and analytics usage is this: Be process-oriented, not results-oriented. Don’t cherry-pick certain data points to support a bias or a preconceived stance. Instead, use information as a guiding light that can lead you to the most interesting conclusions.
Keep a Learning Mindset Through the Process
The research process – and the process of accumulating data – is meant to help bolster your confidence in yourself as a voice, and the confidence of your readers and audience in your credibility. But don’t let confidence become arrogance and ignorance.
There’s a popular saying: The more you learn, the less you know. This rings true in the world of sports media, too. Every topic is exceedingly complex, with countless nuances to study. The moment you assume you know everything, you wall yourself off to further growth.
Always keep a learning mindset. Always be aware of what your deficiencies are as a voice – we all have them – strive to fill in your knowledge gaps through objective observation, and show your audience that you are continuing to learn. By being a constant learner, you’ll never get complacent, and your understanding will only improve.
Hold Yourself Accountable
If you’re a public-facing media member who communicates frequently with your audience, you’re bound to make mistakes now and again. Perhaps you unknowingly misrepresented a metric or a statistic, or you took a quote out of context, or you were just wrong.
While every situation is different, in almost all situations your best option is to be honest and accountable for your work and your words. If you make a mistake, own up to it, and make a note of what you can learn from the event.
While the natural instinct on social media is often to be defensive in such situations, the ironic truth is that being honest and admitting one’s misstep offers the best defense for one’s credibility.
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