Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
Merced Sun-Star
Merced, California
Owner: McClatchy Co. (Calif.)
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	24.0
2004	19.0
2003	25.0
2002	Did not report
2001	Did not report
2000	20.0
1999	14.3
1998	25.0
1997	11.8
1996	10.0
1995	0.0
1994	4.8
1993	13.6
1992	20.0
1991	Did not report
1990	8.7
The latest year at peak is	2003
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Newsroom Diversity Index
for Merced Sun-Star
Year	Non-white % of newsroom staff	Non-white % of circulation area	Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005	24.0	61.4	39
2004	19.0	61.7	31
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, McClatchy Co. (Calif.),
has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 71.
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Peer group comparison
for Merced Sun-Star
This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 39.				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 115 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 The Santa Fe New Mexican, New Mexico, with a 41.5 percent non-white staff in a community that is 56.2 percent non-white. Its index is 74.
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of
approximately 16,746 ranks 561 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 Merced Sun-Star
	Circulation area
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	45.8	69,756
Black	4.1	6,266
Asian and Pacific Islander	8.5	13,000
Native-American	0.6	841
Other non-white	0.2	296
Multi-racial	2.5	3,780
Non-white	61.7	93,939
White	38.3	58,293
Total		152,232
	Home county:  Merced
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	45.3	95,466
Black	3.6	7,594
Asian and Pacific Islander	6.8	14,322
Native-American	0.5	1,115
Other non-white	0.2	410
Multi-racial	2.9	6,062
Non-white	59.4	124,969
White	40.7	85,585
Total		210,554
The home county of this newspaper is Merced.
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
Merced Sun-Star
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
95340 / Merced / CA / 2.8 mi.	8,210	18,077	45.4	$32,573	60.6	41.0	4.8	0.6	11.5
95348 / Merced / CA / 0.8 mi.	3,000	8,075	37.2	$33,473	55.7	35.7	6.5	0.6	9.8
95301 / Atwater / CA / 6.5 mi.	2,640	8,659	30.5	$37,831	53.1	39.5	4.2	0.7	5.7
95388 / Winton / CA / 7.4 mi.	723	3,170	22.8	$30,833	65.0	55.3	1.9	0.3	5.2
95334 / Livingston / CA / 12.5 mi.	428	3,051	14.0	$33,187	83.8	66.7	0.5	0.4	13.3
95338 / Mariposa / CA / 31.2 mi.	354	4,191	8.4	$34,601	13.2	5.7	0.6	3.4	0.8
93635 / Los Banos / CA / 26.2 mi.	345	8,705	4.0	$42,460	59.7	50.4	3.5	0.5	2.2
95333 / Le Grand / CA / 13.1 mi.	315	914	34.5	$32,594	70.5	67.6	0.6	0.5	0.6
93620 / Dos Palos / CA / 21.9 mi.	279	2,836	9.8	$27,945	61.0	53.5	4.9	0.5	0.6
95365 / Planada / CA / 9.3 mi.	186	951	19.6	$24,663	93.8	92.6	0.2	0.3	0.5
93610 / Sharon / CA / 18.9 mi.	161	4,051	4.0	$31,437	51.3	32.4	12.0	1.6	1.6
95322 / Santa Nella / CA / 27.6 mi.	77	2,719	2.8	$37,766	44.9	38.4	0.5	0.5	1.1
95369 / Snelling / CA / 11.2 mi.	76	396	19.2	$31,042	39.5	35.4	0.0	1.6	1.1
95306 / Catheys Valley / CA / 21.3 mi.	41	385	10.6	$36,250	11.9	6.4	0.0	2.3	0.3
95317 / El Nido / CA / 13.8 mi.	38	244	15.6	$34,479	54.8	47.7	2.0	0.1	2.6
95324 / Hilmar / CA / 20.1 mi.	26	2,338	1.1	$40,941	28.6	16.2	0.4	0.3	2.1
95315 / Delhi / CA / 15.6 mi.	18	2,694	0.7	$40,505	61.8	53.6	1.3	0.7	3.0
95312 / Cressey / CA / 7.7 mi.	6	13	46.2	$17,321	55.8	55.8	0.0	0.0	0.0
95374 / Stevinson / CA / 19.6 mi.	2	580	0.3	$35,746	37.3	31.0	2.4	0.4	0.4
File	ca_merced_sun-star
Time	5/19/05 7:21 PM
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