Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists | ||||||||||
at America's daily newspapers | ||||||||||
with the communities that they serve | ||||||||||
Newsroom diversity report for | ||||||||||
The Decatur Daily | ||||||||||
Decatur, Alabama | ||||||||||
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 | 8.6 | |||||||||
2004 | 10.8 | |||||||||
2003 | 11.1 | |||||||||
2002 | 11.1 | |||||||||
2001 | 9.4 | |||||||||
2000 | 8.9 | |||||||||
1999 | 5.0 | |||||||||
1998 | 7.7 | |||||||||
1997 | 2.9 | |||||||||
1996 | 2.8 | |||||||||
1995 | 6.7 | |||||||||
1994 | 3.2 | |||||||||
1993 | 3.4 | |||||||||
1992 | 3.2 | |||||||||
1991 | Did not report | |||||||||
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 Decatur Daily | ||||||||||
Year | Non-white % of newsroom staff | Non-white % of circulation area | Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100) | |||||||
2005 | 8.6 | 19.7 | 44 | |||||||
2004 | 10.8 | 19.7 | 55 | |||||||
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.) | ||||||||||
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures. | ||||||||||
Peer group comparison | ||||||||||
for The Decatur Daily | ||||||||||
This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 44. | 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 101 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 Enterprise Ledger, Alabama, with a 16.7 percent non-white staff in a community that is 24.4 percent non-white. Its index is 68. | ||||||||||
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of | ||||||||||
approximately 23,641 ranks 413 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 Decatur Daily | ||||||||||
Circulation area | ||||||||||
Race/ethnicity | % of population | Number of residents |
|
|||||||
Hispanic | 3.1 | 5,094 | ||||||||
Black | 13.2 | 21,839 | ||||||||
Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.4 | 658 | ||||||||
Native-American | 1.6 | 2,606 | ||||||||
Other non-white | 0.0 | 73 | ||||||||
Multi-racial | 1.4 | 2,331 | ||||||||
Non-white | 19.7 | 32,601 | ||||||||
White | 80.3 | 132,935 | ||||||||
Total | 165,536 | |||||||||
Home county: Morgan | ||||||||||
Race/ethnicity | % of population | Number of residents |
|
|||||||
Hispanic | 3.3 | 3,645 | ||||||||
Black | 11.2 | 12,383 | ||||||||
Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.5 | 516 | ||||||||
Native-American | 0.7 | 727 | ||||||||
Other non-white | 0.1 | 62 | ||||||||
Multi-racial | 1.0 | 1,147 | ||||||||
Non-white | 16.6 | 18,480 | ||||||||
White | 83.4 | 92,584 | ||||||||
Total | 111,064 | |||||||||
The home county of this newspaper is Morgan. | ||||||||||
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 Decatur Daily | ||||||||||
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 |
|
35601 / Decatur / AL / 0 mi. | 6,655 | 14,023 | 47.5 | $31,782 | 34.7 | 7.9 | 24.8 | 0.6 | 0.4 | |
35603 / Decatur / AL / 4.7 mi. | 5,716 | 10,374 | 55.1 | $49,669 | 13.3 | 1.6 | 8.9 | 0.6 | 1.0 | |
35640 / Hartselle / AL / 13.4 mi. | 3,326 | 8,285 | 40.1 | $40,081 | 6.2 | 1.2 | 3.2 | 0.6 | 0.2 | |
35650 / Moulton / AL / 18.4 mi. | 1,788 | 5,380 | 33.2 | $31,542 | 15.0 | 0.9 | 5.1 | 5.4 | 0.2 | |
35611 / Athens / AL / 13.3 mi. | 1,462 | 9,403 | 15.5 | $31,423 | 24.1 | 4.5 | 17.8 | 0.4 | 0.5 | |
35670 / Somerville / AL / 15.5 mi. | 707 | 2,764 | 25.6 | $38,723 | 5.5 | 0.6 | 2.6 | 1.0 | 0.2 | |
35619 / Danville / AL / 13.9 mi. | 635 | 1,915 | 33.2 | $35,696 | 13.1 | 1.1 | 5.9 | 4.1 | 0.1 | |
35672 / Town Creek / AL / 23.6 mi. | 571 | 2,597 | 22.0 | $31,250 | 30.8 | 1.5 | 20.1 | 6.4 | 0.0 | |
35622 / Falkville / AL / 18.6 mi. | 558 | 2,700 | 20.7 | $30,788 | 4.0 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 0.5 | 0.2 | |
35673 / Trinity / AL / 7.5 mi. | 540 | 2,825 | 19.1 | $38,979 | 11.1 | 0.9 | 3.6 | 3.9 | 0.1 | |
35618 / Courtland / AL / 16.8 mi. | 408 | 959 | 42.5 | $22,218 | 56.3 | 0.9 | 52.6 | 1.0 | 0.1 | |
35643 / Hillsboro / AL / 10.1 mi. | 368 | 1,288 | 28.6 | $32,993 | 39.5 | 1.0 | 32.1 | 4.2 | 0.1 | |
35621 / Eva / AL / 25.9 mi. | 183 | 799 | 22.9 | $35,208 | 2.6 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.1 | |
35671 / Tanner / AL / 6.3 mi. | 146 | 814 | 17.9 | $32,458 | 43.1 | 6.0 | 34.8 | 0.9 | 0.3 | |
35651 / Mount Hope / AL / 28.6 mi. | 136 | 479 | 28.4 | $36,786 | 11.3 | 0.6 | 2.0 | 6.4 | 0.1 | |
35620 / Elkmont / AL / 22.4 mi. | 135 | 2,733 | 4.9 | $37,002 | 6.3 | 0.9 | 3.9 | 0.5 | 0.1 | |
35754 / Laceys Spring / AL / 24 mi. | 95 | 1,998 | 4.8 | $32,819 | 4.8 | 1.2 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 0.3 | |
35179 / Vinemont / AL / 23.9 mi. | 86 | 3,451 | 2.5 | $33,497 | 3.0 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.2 | |
35540 / Addison / AL / 29 mi. | 76 | 870 | 8.7 | $29,931 | 1.4 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.1 | |
35055 / Cullman / AL / 32 mi. | 66 | 7,911 | 0.8 | $30,545 | 5.8 | 3.9 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.4 | |
35739 / Ardmore / AL / 28.5 mi. | 56 | 1,542 | 3.6 | $36,574 | 7.1 | 1.2 | 2.8 | 0.9 | 0.5 | |
35647 / Lester / AL / 22.9 mi. | 51 | 388 | 13.1 | $38,913 | 4.1 | 0.1 | 3.4 | 0.3 | 0.1 | |
35775 / Valhermoso Springs / AL / 19.2 mi. | 32 | 244 | 13.1 | $41,625 | 16.8 | 0.3 | 14.1 | 1.6 | 0.3 | |
File | al_the_decatur_daily | |||||||||
Time | 5/14/05 2:17 PM | |||||||||
Page | 413 | |||||||||
Member | 100150 |