Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
The Birmingham News
Birmingham, Alabama
Owner: Advance (Newhouse) (N.Y.)
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	17.6
2004	17.9
2003	19.0
2002	15.7
2001	15.2
2000	13.2
1999	10.7
1998	11.1
1997	10.2
1996	8.7
1995	7.8
1994	7.9
1993	7.9
1992	Did not report
1991	6.2
1990	Did not report
The latest year at peak is	2003
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Newsroom Diversity Index
for The Birmingham News
Year	Non-white % of newsroom staff	Non-white % of circulation area	Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005	17.6	31.6	56
2004	17.9	31.8	56
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, Advance (Newhouse) (N.Y.),
has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 63.
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Peer group comparison
for The Birmingham News
This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 56.				This paper
				Peer group
Compare that with 64, which is the median Diversity Index for all newspapers
reporting in this circulation category of 100,001 to 250,000 daily sales.
In that group, this newspaper's Diversity Index ranks 35 out of 58
newspapers reporting in the category of 100,001 to 250,000 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 The News & Observer, Raleigh, North Carolina, with a 21 percent non-white staff in a community that is 30.8 percent non-white. Its index is 68.
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of
approximately 145,506 ranks 76 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 The Birmingham News
	Circulation area
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	1.8	18,771
Black	28.2	297,274
Asian and Pacific Islander	0.9	8,963
Native-American	0.2	2,560
Other non-white	0.1	520
Multi-racial	0.7	7,682
Non-white	31.8	335,770
White	68.2	718,689
Total		1,054,459
	Home county:  Jefferson
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	1.6	10,284
Black	39.2	259,623
Asian and Pacific Islander	0.9	6,034
Native-American	0.2	1,314
Other non-white	0.1	367
Multi-racial	0.7	4,718
Non-white	42.7	282,340
White	57.4	379,707
Total		662,047
The home county of this newspaper is Jefferson.
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
The Birmingham News
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
35242 / Vestavia Hills / AL / 8.9 mi.	6,541	12,881	50.8	$74,647	8.7	1.7	4.1	0.2	2.2
35244 / Riverchase / AL / 9.9 mi.	5,330	10,639	50.1	$69,689	11.0	1.3	6.2	0.2	2.5
35209 / Vestavia / AL / 2.9 mi.	5,187	14,138	36.7	$37,959	32.2	3.8	24.2	0.2	2.8
35216 / Vestavia Hills / AL / 6.2 mi.	4,984	14,082	35.4	$47,883	17.6	6.0	7.0	0.1	3.3
35226 / Vestavia Hills / AL / 7.3 mi.	4,732	10,459	45.2	$67,614	10.8	2.1	5.0	0.1	2.8
35203 / Birmingham / AL / 0.8 mi.	4,725	1,209	390.8	$7,619	80.4	0.8	78.4	0.2	0.3
35215 / Center Point / AL / 9.9 mi.	4,360	18,182	24.0	$39,616	44.0	2.2	40.1	0.3	0.5
35243 / Vestavia / AL / 5.6 mi.	3,710	7,038	52.7	$62,987	4.2	0.9	1.4	0.1	1.2
35211 / Wenonah / AL / 4 mi.	3,709	11,711	31.7	$21,350	97.6	0.6	96.3	0.1	0.1
35020 / Brighton / AL / 10.5 mi.	3,327	12,199	27.3	$21,772	76.4	1.3	73.9	0.2	0.2
35213 / Crestline Heights / AL / 3.2 mi.	3,098	6,065	51.1	$66,308	7.3	0.9	4.7	0.1	1.1
35173 / Whites Chapel / AL / 13.4 mi.	3,039	6,687	45.4	$60,673	3.9	0.7	2.1	0.3	0.4
35223 / Vestavia / AL / 4 mi.	2,979	4,438	67.1	$99,245	2.4	0.4	0.7	0.0	0.9
35235 / Roebuck Plaza / AL / 9.9 mi.	2,977	7,629	39.0	$48,898	19.8	1.1	16.9	0.2	0.8
35124 / Pelham / AL / 13 mi.	2,958	6,477	45.7	$58,105	12.3	5.7	4.0	0.3	1.6
35023 / Hueytown / AL / 12.7 mi.	2,802	9,364	29.9	$42,196	17.0	0.5	15.6	0.3	0.1
35206 / Birmingham / AL / 5.7 mi.	2,799	8,287	33.8	$27,190	71.0	1.2	68.4	0.3	0.3
35007 / Alabaster / AL / 17.8 mi.	2,634	7,350	35.8	$56,721	13.8	1.6	10.6	0.3	0.7
35126 / Pinson / AL / 15.1 mi.	2,512	6,915	36.3	$52,100	5.6	0.6	3.8	0.3	0.5
35210 / Ruffner / AL / 7.1 mi.	2,467	5,518	44.7	$42,662	27.2	2.1	23.2	0.2	0.9
35205 / South Highlands / AL / 1.2 mi.	2,307	11,205	20.6	$25,310	49.4	2.6	39.9	0.3	4.8
35071 / Gardendale / AL / 10 mi.	2,188	5,435	40.3	$45,928	3.0	0.6	1.2	0.2	0.5
35212 / Birmingham / AL / 3.6 mi.	2,116	6,086	34.8	$21,841	81.9	4.5	76.2	0.2	0.3
35214 / Forestdale / AL / 5.4 mi.	2,046	8,483	24.1	$34,468	66.8	0.7	65.2	0.1	0.2
35055 / Cullman / AL / 42.6 mi.	1,946	7,911	24