Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists | ||||||||||
at America's daily newspapers | ||||||||||
with the communities that they serve | ||||||||||
Newsroom diversity report for | ||||||||||
Opelika-Auburn News, Opelika | ||||||||||
Opelika, Alabama | ||||||||||
Owner: Media General (Va.) | ||||||||||
From a report for the Knight Foundation | ||||||||||
by Bill Dedman and Stephen K. Doig, June 2005 | ||||||||||
Click here to read the national report or to select another newspaper | ||||||||||
Year | Non-white % of newsroom staff |
|
||||||||
2005 | 18.2 | |||||||||
2004 | Did not report | |||||||||
2003 | Did not report | |||||||||
2002 | Did not report | |||||||||
2001 | Did not report | |||||||||
2000 | Did not report | |||||||||
1999 | 0.0 | |||||||||
1998 | 18.8 | |||||||||
1997 | 11.1 | |||||||||
1996 | 15.0 | |||||||||
1995 | 20.0 | |||||||||
1994 | Did not report | |||||||||
1993 | Did not report | |||||||||
1992 | Did not report | |||||||||
1991 | Did not report | |||||||||
1990 | Did not report | |||||||||
The latest year at peak is | 1995 | |||||||||
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures. | ||||||||||
Newsroom Diversity Index | ||||||||||
for Opelika-Auburn News, Opelika | ||||||||||
Year | Non-white % of newsroom staff | Non-white % of circulation area | Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100) | |||||||
2005 | 18.2 | 34.1 | 53 | |||||||
2004 | N/A | 34.1 | N/A | |||||||
How the index is calculated | ||||||||||
The Newsroom Diversity Index is the non-white percentage of the newsroom staff | ||||||||||
divided by the non-white percentage of residents in the circulation area. | ||||||||||
(Parity = 100.) | ||||||||||
Company index | ||||||||||
This newspaper's owner, Media General (Va.), | ||||||||||
has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 39. | ||||||||||
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures. | ||||||||||
Peer group comparison | ||||||||||
for Opelika-Auburn News, Opelika | ||||||||||
This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 53. | This paper | |||||||||
Peer group | ||||||||||
Compare that with 33, which is the median Diversity Index for all newspapers | ||||||||||
reporting in this circulation category of 10,001 to 25,000 daily sales. | ||||||||||
In that group, this newspaper's Diversity Index ranks 79 out of 259 | ||||||||||
newspapers reporting in the category of 10,001 to 25,000 daily sales. | ||||||||||
An example of a newspaper of similar circulation, in an area of similar level of non-white residents, but one that has a relatively high Diversity Index, is Greeley Tribune, Colorado, with a 26.3 percent non-white staff in a community that is 30 percent non-white. Its index is 88. | ||||||||||
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of | ||||||||||
approximately 14,924 ranks 612 out of 1,410 daily newspapers in the US. | ||||||||||
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures. | ||||||||||
Details on race/ethnicity | ||||||||||
in the circulation area | ||||||||||
and the home county | ||||||||||
of Opelika-Auburn News, Opelika | ||||||||||
Circulation area | ||||||||||
Race/ethnicity | % of population | Number of residents |
|
|||||||
Hispanic | 1.2 | 1,266 | ||||||||
Black | 30.2 | 31,662 | ||||||||
Asian and Pacific Islander | 1.7 | 1,776 | ||||||||
Native-American | 0.2 | 194 | ||||||||
Other non-white | 0.1 | 64 | ||||||||
Multi-racial | 0.8 | 809 | ||||||||
Non-white | 34.1 | 35,771 | ||||||||
White | 65.9 | 69,081 | ||||||||
Total | 104,852 | |||||||||
Home county: Lee | ||||||||||
Race/ethnicity | % of population | Number of residents |
|
|||||||
Hispanic | 1.4 | 1,645 | ||||||||
Black | 22.6 | 25,954 | ||||||||
Asian and Pacific Islander | 1.6 | 1,883 | ||||||||
Native-American | 0.2 | 251 | ||||||||
Other non-white | 0.1 | 99 | ||||||||
Multi-racial | 0.8 | 962 | ||||||||
Non-white | 26.8 | 30,794 | ||||||||
White | 73.2 | 84,298 | ||||||||
Total | 115,092 | |||||||||
The home county of this newspaper is Lee. | ||||||||||
About this report | ||||||||||
This third annual report for the Knight Foundation adds context to an annual survey by the American Society of Newspaper Editors. ASNE has set a goal that | ||||||||||
every newspaper, to help it know its community and gather the news, should employ at least one non-white journalist, and that newspapers should strive to | ||||||||||
employ non-whites in proportion to their share of the community. ASNE's report, at www.asne.org, shows each newspaper's non-white employment, but does | ||||||||||
not disclose how closely that employment mirrors the newspaper's circulation area. | ||||||||||
That gap is filled by the report you are reading now. This report was not done by ASNE, but was done for the Knight Foundation by Bill Dedman and | ||||||||||
Stephen K. Doig. It shows how close each newspaper is to ASNE's goal, by comparing the newsroom staffing with the circulation area population. | ||||||||||
The full report is at www.powerreporting.com/knight. | ||||||||||
Notes and definitions | ||||||||||
1. The Newsroom Diversity Index is the non-white percentage of the newsroom staff divided by the non-white percentage of the circulation area's residents. Parity = 100. | ||||||||||
2. Source for staffing: Survey by American Society of Newspaper Editors, April 2005. Newspapers report non-white staff as of the end of the previous year. | ||||||||||
3. Following ASNE's definition, newsroom staff includes only supervisors, reporters, editors, copy/layout editors and photographers. | ||||||||||
4. Also following ASNE's definition, "whites," "blacks," etc., exclude Hispanics, who are counted in a separate category. | ||||||||||
5. Source for boundaries of this newspaper's circulation area: ZIP Code circulation data, Audit Bureau of Circulations, latest available. | ||||||||||
6. A paper may define its circulation area differently for marketing efforts, or news coverage, or to set advertising rates. | ||||||||||
7. If ZIP Codes or counties are used, this report applies a threshold: 10 percent household penetration is required to include an area in the circulation area. | ||||||||||
8. Source for the demographics of residents of that circulation area: US Census 2000. | ||||||||||
9. Source for total circulation: Editor & Publisher magazine, Monday-Friday average at year-end 2004. | ||||||||||
10. Staff of non-English publications, such as the Miami Herald's El Nuevo Herald, are excluded from the ASNE staffing survey for the first time this year. | ||||||||||
Demographics of ZIP Codes | ||||||||||
where sales were reported by | ||||||||||
Opelika-Auburn News, Opelika | ||||||||||
Note that some ZIP Codes listed here may not have been included in determining the newspaper's circulation area. In calculating the Diversity Index, a | ||||||||||
ZIP Code was included only if the household penetration was at least 10 percent. Any lower-penetration ZIP Codes are also listed here for your information. | ||||||||||
Also, if the newspaper reported more than 300 ZIP Codes, only the top 300 in weekday sales are listed here. | ||||||||||
ZIP / City / State / Approx. distance in miles from the newspaper's home office | Weekday sales | Households | Penetration % (daily sales per 100 households) | Median household income | Non-white % of population |
Hispanic % of population |
Black % of population |
Native % of population |
Asian % of population |
|
36801 / Opelika / AL / 0 mi. | 5,276 | 8,159 | 64.7 | $32,175 | 45.3 | 1.2 | 42.5 | 0.2 | 0.8 | |
36830 / Auburn / AL / 11.2 mi. | 3,871 | 12,181 | 31.8 | $27,167 | 22.2 | 1.8 | 15.7 | 0.2 | 3.4 | |
36804 / Opelika / AL / 1.8 mi. | 1,424 | 5,606 | 25.4 | $37,867 | 28.7 | 0.7 | 25.9 | 0.2 | 1.1 | |
36832 / Auburn / AL / 11.5 mi. | 992 | 8,472 | 11.7 | $12,028 | 31.6 | 1.1 | 26.7 | 0.2 | 2.6 | |
36874 / Salem / AL / 7.3 mi. | 385 | 2,335 | 16.5 | $41,062 | 26.6 | 0.7 | 24.5 | 0.2 | 0.3 | |
36862 / Lafayette / AL / 24.1 mi. | 347 | 2,631 | 13.2 | $26,927 | 59.4 | 0.8 | 58.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | |
36853 / Dadeville / AL / 29.7 mi. | 258 | 3,243 | 8.0 | $35,288 | 24.4 | 0.7 | 22.4 | 0.3 | 0.2 | |
36854 / Valley / AL / 15 mi. | 250 | 5,761 | 4.3 | $32,653 | 23.3 | 0.8 | 21.4 | 0.2 | 0.3 | |
36866 / Notasulga / AL / 21 mi. | 242 | 1,429 | 16.9 | $30,651 | 36.7 | 1.1 | 34.8 | 0.3 | 0.1 | |
36850 / Camp Hill / AL / 22.2 mi. | 183 | 1,223 | 15.0 | $23,397 | 69.9 | 1.1 | 68.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | |
36083 / Tuskegee / AL / 22.8 mi. | 148 | 4,519 | 3.3 | $20,828 | 92.1 | 0.8 | 90.3 | 0.1 | 0.2 | |
36879 / Waverly / AL / 16.6 mi. | 128 | 479 | 26.7 | $27,500 | 39.1 | 1.2 | 37.5 | 0.1 | 0.0 | |
36877 / Smiths / AL / 12.7 mi. | 123 | 4,052 | 3.0 | $42,905 | 18.2 | 1.6 | 14.8 | 0.4 | 0.4 | |
36863 / Lanett / AL / 21 mi. | 89 | 5,463 | 1.6 | $30,046 | 41.7 | 0.8 | 40.0 | 0.1 | 0.2 | |
36852 / Cusseta / AL / 11.9 mi. | 82 | 669 | 12.3 | $36,689 | 19.5 | 0.9 | 17.0 | 0.3 | 0.2 | |
36078 / Tallassee / AL / 33.9 mi. | 41 | 4,820 | 0.9 | $29,856 | 23.4 | 1.0 | 21.2 | 0.3 | 0.2 | |
36861 / Jacksons Gap / AL / 36.8 mi. | 29 | 1,405 | 2.1 | $35,545 | 11.7 | 0.6 | 10.2 | 0.3 | 0.2 | |
36088 / Tuskegee Institute / AL / 26.4 mi. | 23 | 1,687 | 1.4 | $19,651 | 97.6 | 0.5 | 94.7 | 0.2 | 1.1 | |
File | al_opelika-auburn_news__opelika | |||||||||
Time | 5/21/05 5:26 PM | |||||||||
Page | 611 | |||||||||
Member | 100470 |