Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
San Jose Mercury News
San Jose, California
Owner: Knight Ridder (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	32.1
2004	32.3
2003	33.2
2002	31.7
2001	30.7
2000	32.2
1999	27.5
1998	25.8
1997	24.7
1996	24.0
1995	20.1
1994	17.8
1993	17.0
1992	14.3
1991	13.9
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 San Jose Mercury News
Year	Non-white % of newsroom staff	Non-white % of circulation area	Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005	32.1	52.6	61
2004	32.3	52.6	61
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, Knight Ridder (Calif.),
has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 76.
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Peer group comparison
for San Jose Mercury News
This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 61.				This paper
				Peer group
Compare that with 70, which is the median Diversity Index for all newspapers
reporting in this circulation category of 250,001 to 500,000 daily sales.
In that group, this newspaper's Diversity Index ranks 14 out of 24
newspapers reporting in the category of 250,001 to 500,000 daily sales.
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of
approximately 263,067 ranks 33 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 San Jose Mercury News
	Circulation area
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	22.8	516,175
Black	2.8	64,318
Asian and Pacific Islander	23.3	526,894
Native-American	0.3	7,342
Other non-white	0.2	5,367
Multi-racial	3.0	68,202
Non-white	52.6	1,188,298
White	47.4	1,072,546
Total		2,260,844
	Home county:  Santa Clara
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	24.0	403,401
Black	2.6	44,475
Asian and Pacific Islander	25.7	431,811
Native-American	0.3	5,270
Other non-white	0.2	3,522
Multi-racial	3.0	49,824
Non-white	55.8	938,303
White	44.2	744,282
Total		1,682,585
The home county of this newspaper is Santa Clara.
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
San Jose Mercury 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
94087 / Sunnyvale / CA / 7.7 mi.	8,720	19,470	44.8	$84,856	42.6	7.2	1.6	0.2	30.3
95125 / San Jose / CA / 5.7 mi.	8,498	18,917	44.9	$68,613	33.9	21.3	2.0	0.3	7.4
95014 / Cupertino / CA / 11.4 mi.	8,295	19,581	42.4	$100,020	52.5	4.3	0.7	0.2	44.4
95123 / San Jose / CA / 10.1 mi.	7,909	20,439	38.7	$75,188	44.1	20.5	3.9	0.4	15.0
95124 / San Jose / CA / 8.5 mi.	7,609	16,256	46.8	$79,008	27.1	12.7	1.6	0.4	8.9
95120 / San Jose / CA / 13 mi.	7,170	12,333	58.1	$120,117	32.6	5.2	0.8	0.2	22.8
95051 / Santa Clara / CA / 5 mi.	6,796	20,254	33.6	$73,147	51.7	14.3	2.0	0.3	31.5
95008 / Campbell / CA / 7.4 mi.	6,758	18,625	36.3	$68,106	33.8	12.8	2.5	0.4	14.4
95035 / Milpitas / CA / 5.4 mi.	6,407	17,176	37.3	$84,565	76.1	16.6	3.5	0.4	51.9
95070 / Saratoga / CA / 11.8 mi.	6,401	10,689	59.9	$138,206	34.7	3.3	0.4	0.1	28.8
95112 / San Jose / CA / 2.7 mi.	6,199	16,715	37.1	$41,014	75.6	50.1	3.7	0.5	18.5
95129 / San Jose / CA / 7.5 mi.	5,914	13,958	42.4	$79,489	53.6	6.7	1.3	0.1	42.0
95037 / Morgan Hill / CA / 23 mi.	5,246	13,374	39.2	$82,258	38.5	27.0	1.5	0.5	6.5
95050 / Santa Clara / CA / 3.3 mi.	5,222	13,931	37.5	$58,961	47.1	19.6	2.3	0.3	20.9
94086 / Sunnyvale / CA / 6.8 mi.	5,128	26,235	19.5	$71,056	60.9	20.5	2.4	0.3	34.6
95127 / San Jose / CA / 5.3 mi.	4,988	15,473	32.2	$63,096	77.5	53.6	3.3	0.4	17.7
95128 / San Jose / CA / 4.7 mi.	4,939	12,473	39.6	$55,869	49.8	28.4	3.8	0.4	13.5
95032 / Los Gatos / CA / 11.2 mi.	4,865	9,755	49.9	$93,118	18.0	5.7	0.8	0.2	8.3
95136 / San Jose / CA / 7.8 mi.	4,807	12,762	37.7	$74,908	50.9	18.4	4.7	0.4	23.0
95020 / Gilroy / CA / 33.3 mi.	4,734	14,292	33.1	$64,611	59.3	51.1	1.4	0.5	4.2
95118 / San Jose / CA / 8.5 mi.	4,724	11,275	41.9	$73,134	36.1	18.9	2.1	0.4	10.5
95132 / San Jose / CA / 8.4 mi.	4,344	11,614	37.4	$82,779	72.8	14.8	3.5	0.3	50.9
94539 / Fremont / CA / 9.6 mi.	4,328	14,698	29.4	$101,977	61.5	6.0	1.6	0.2	50.1
94040 / Mountain View / CA / 10.2 mi.	4,149	13,721	30.2	$69,087	42.4	17.2	1.9	0.2	20.2
94024 / Los Altos / CA / 11.4 mi.	3,777	7,844	48.2	$128,853	24.0	3.0	0.4