Listen to the beat

A good beat can be useful for more than just music. It is also an very useful tool for a reporter to top the competition and get the story before everyone else. The beat reporter has a major advantage over the competition by being proactive, going to the source himself, instead of being reactive, and waiting for the story to come to him or her.
A journalist is not any different than a professional in any other line of work, the best are able to specialize. A reporter needs to be able to handle a general news story, but at the same time needs to have one area that they know inside and out. One topic that they are able to find and maintain sources. These sources will in turn help that reporter find out details that they would otherwise not have access to.
I’ll use my writing as an example. I was lucky enough to have my name given to every NAIA baseball coach in the country. These people have now heard my name and been given an example of my work. I have also heard from some of them already. Each time that they have contacted me, I have made sure that I have responded to them with a kind and thankful word and filed away their contact information.
Now that I have been in touch with these sources, and started building a relationship with them, I will be able to gain their trust. I know that they will include me on updates about their team and their season. I will be on their mailing lists with the latest team news. All of this information can in turn be used to write a story that I wouldn’t be able to get from watching the scoreboards or stat pages.
The best part about having a specific beat is that it is a topic that I love. If I had to write articles about movies or entertainment, I would struggle with my research and my writing because I don’t have that passion for the topic. Baseball on the other hand is perfect for me. Send me to city hall to cover a budget meeting and I will be bored out of my mind. Send me to the ballpark to watch games for eight hours and I am in heaven.