Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
Tribune Newspapers, Mesa
Mesa, Arizona
Owner: Freedom Communications (Ca.)
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	4.1
2004	5.0
2003	6.2
2002	3.0
2001	3.2
2000	4.0
1999	3.4
1998	3.6
1997	Did not report
1996	4.8
1995	7.1
1994	10.9
1993	14.3
1992	Did not report
1991	Did not report
1990	Did not report
The latest year at peak is	1993
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Newsroom Diversity Index
for Tribune Newspapers, Mesa
Year	Non-white % of newsroom staff	Non-white % of circulation area	Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005	4.1	23.1	18
2004	5.0	23.1	22
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, Freedom Communications (Ca.),
has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 59.
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Peer group comparison
for Tribune Newspapers, Mesa
This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 18.				This paper
				Peer group
Compare that with 50, which is the median Diversity Index for all newspapers
reporting in this circulation category of 50,001 to 100,000 daily sales.
In that group, this newspaper's Diversity Index ranks 82 out of 90
newspapers reporting in the category of 50,001 to 100,000 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 Florida Today, Melbourne, Florida, with a 19.1 percent non-white staff in a community that is 16.3 percent non-white. Its index is 117.
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of
approximately 96,092 ranks 108 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 Tribune Newspapers, Mesa
	Circulation area
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	16.3	170,822
Black	2.1	22,238
Asian and Pacific Islander	2.1	21,702
Native-American	1.1	11,014
Other non-white	0.1	1,020
Multi-racial	1.4	14,702
Non-white	23.1	241,498
White	76.9	803,763
Total		1,045,261
	Home county:  Maricopa
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	24.9	763,341
Black	3.5	108,521
Asian and Pacific Islander	2.2	68,287
Native-American	1.5	45,703
Other non-white	0.1	4,086
Multi-racial	1.6	47,681
Non-white	33.8	1,037,619
White	66.2	2,034,530
Total		3,072,149
The home county of this newspaper is Maricopa.
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
Tribune Newspapers, Mesa
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
85351 / Sun City / AZ / 29.4 mi.	6,417	17,761	36.1	$31,661	2.3	0.9	0.5	0.1	0.3
85208 / Mesa / AZ / 12.5 mi.	6,381	17,173	37.2	$38,777	15.8	12.1	1.2	0.5	1.0
85220 / Apache Junction / AZ / 15.7 mi.	5,381	13,778	39.1	$33,416	12.4	9.1	0.7	0.8	0.6
85205 / Mesa / AZ / 7.7 mi.	5,034	16,868	29.8	$40,259	12.3	7.9	1.4	0.7	1.1
85204 / Mesa / AZ / 3.1 mi.	4,143	20,945	19.8	$41,137	36.2	30.0	2.2	1.1	1.5
85206 / Mesa / AZ / 7.1 mi.	3,962	12,721	31.1	$43,695	12.5	8.0	1.5	0.5	1.3
85375 / Sun City West / AZ / 35 mi.	3,862	15,329	25.2	$43,349	2.3	1.0	0.5	0.1	0.4
85201 / Mesa / AZ / 3.1 mi.	3,452	19,211	18.0	$35,576	39.4	29.6	3.8	2.5	1.5
85213 / Mesa / AZ / 5.8 mi.	3,408	10,956	31.1	$51,881	14.5	9.7	1.3	0.7	1.6
85225 / Chandler / AZ / 5.1 mi.	3,109	22,072	14.1	$49,975	43.4	34.6	3.4	1.1	2.7
85207 / Mesa / AZ / 12.5 mi.	2,794	9,254	30.2	$48,907	15.7	11.7	1.2	0.7	0.8
85210 / Mesa / AZ / 0 mi.	2,708	13,591	19.9	$38,204	46.0	36.7	3.4	1.8	2.2
85203 / Mesa / AZ / 4.6 mi.	2,516	12,702	19.8	$46,256	25.8	18.5	2.0	2.5	1.2
85282 / Tempe / AZ / 5.1 mi.	2,409	21,745	11.1	$42,258	28.4	16.5	4.1	1.9	3.6
85202 / Mesa / AZ / 1.9 mi.	2,374	16,701	14.2	$41,091	33.2	19.7	4.0	3.5	3.5
85219 / Apache Junction / AZ / 19.1 mi.	2,304	10,651	21.6	$41,484	9.2	6.3	0.4	0.7	0.6
85234 / Gilbert / AZ / 5.5 mi.	2,262	11,819	19.1	$63,735	17.4	11.1	1.9	0.5	2.3
85257 / Scottsdale / AZ / 6.7 mi.	2,132	12,385	17.2	$40,686	20.4	14.2	1.6	1.5	1.6
85373 / Sun City / AZ / 39.3 mi.	2,088	6,852	30.5	$38,824	4.5	2.8	0.6	0.1	0.4
85224 / Chandler / AZ / 4.8 mi.	2,062	15,702	13.1	$55,767	26.2	15.1	3.4	1.0	4.5
85248 / Chandler / AZ / 10 mi.	2,050	14,688	14.0	$61,020	15.7	7.6	2.0	1.4	3.5
85215 / Mesa / AZ / 23.4 mi.	1,835	6,832	26.9	$50,024	8.8	5.4	1.0	0.4	0.9
85296 / Gilbert / AZ / 7.5 mi.	1,647	10,067	16.4	$72,019	19.2	11.4	2.3	0.5	3.1
85251 / Scottsdale / AZ / 8.4 mi.	1,605	18,700	8.6	$40,567	18.9	13.5	1.6	0.8	1.6
85283 / Tempe / AZ / 5.5 mi.	1,573	16,84