Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
The Bakersfield Californian
Bakersfield, California
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 19.7
2004 Did not report
2003 Did not report
2002 Did not report
2001 15.8
2000 10.6
1999 9.2
1998 18.7
1997 20.8
1996 22.2
1995 22.2
1994 19.5
1993 25.0
1992 20.9
1991 18.3
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 The Bakersfield Californian
Year Non-white % of newsroom staff Non-white % of circulation area Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005 19.7 53.6 37
2004 N/A 52.9 N/A
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 Bakersfield Californian
This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 37. 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 60 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 The Times, Shreveport, Louisiana, with a 31.1 percent non-white staff in a community that is 41.3 percent non-white. Its index is 75.
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of
approximately 62,278 ranks 167 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 Bakersfield Californian
Circulation area
Race/ethnicity % of population Number of residents
Hispanic 41.1 241,955
Black 5.5 32,610
Asian and Pacific Islander 3.3 19,472
Native-American 0.9 5,178
Other non-white 0.1 831
Multi-racial 2.0 11,563
  Non-white 52.9 311,609
White 47.1 277,370
Total 588,979
Home county:  Kern
Race/ethnicity % of population Number of residents
Hispanic 38.4 254,036
Black 5.7 37,845
Asian and Pacific Islander 3.3 21,905
Native-American 0.9 5,885
Other non-white 0.2 989
Multi-racial 2.1 13,795
  Non-white 50.6 334,455
White 49.5 327,190
Total 661,645
The home county of this newspaper is Kern.
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 Bakersfield Californian
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
93309 / Bakersfield / CA / 3.4 mi. 9,547 22,431 42.6 $40,084 38.2 22.8 8.4 0.8 3.7
93306 / Bakersfield / CA / 4.8 mi. 7,470 17,631 42.4 $38,711 51.1 42.3 3.4 1.1 2.3
93311 / Bakersfield / CA / 7.4 mi. 5,481 7,353 74.5 $60,700 33.4 17.1 3.8 0.5 9.2
93312 / Greenacres / CA / 7.9 mi. 5,261 13,026 40.4 $61,583 20.0 13.1 1.7 0.9 2.3
93308 / Bakersfield / CA / 3.1 mi. 5,141 16,155 31.8 $33,035 18.4 12.2 1.2 1.5 1.3
93304 / Bakersfield / CA / 1.7 mi. 3,806 14,633 26.0 $28,613 62.9 42.2 12.7 1.0 4.2
93305 / Bakersfield / CA / 2.2 mi. 3,773 10,448 36.1 $24,114 74.9 65.7 5.3 1.1 1.1
93307 / Bakersfield / CA / 4.4 mi. 3,018 16,168 18.7 $26,462 76.8 60.0 11.7 0.8 2.3
93313 / Pumpkin Center / CA / 8.2 mi. 2,556 7,509 34.0 $50,114 44.9 27.9 7.5 0.8 5.9
93301 / Bakersfield / CA / 0.9 mi. 2,045 5,040 40.6 $25,587 48.7 31.8 10.9 0.9 2.3
93561 / Tehachapi / CA / 30.3 mi. 1,907 7,855 24.3 $47,031 32.9 21.6 6.5 0.7 1.0
93215 / Delano / CA / 28.1 mi. 1,565 8,940 17.5 $27,912 92.0 71.7 2.2 0.3 15.9
93268 / Taft / CA / 25.2 mi. 1,187 5,206 22.8 $31,938 22.5 17.4 0.9 1.1 1.4
93263 / Shafter / CA / 16 mi. 950 3,975 23.9 $29,466 69.4 66.1 1.4 0.6 0.4
93280 / Wasco / CA / 21.6 mi. 923 4,401 21.0 $29,351 77.1 65.9 9.3 0.5 0.7
93555 / Ridgecrest / CA / 71.7 mi. 840 11,769 7.1 $45,722 22.0 11.3 3.1 0.8 3.9
93240 / Mountain Mesa / CA / 34.5 mi. 684 2,527 27.1 $22,194 12.5 6.2 0.3 1.5 0.6
93203 / Di Giorgio / CA / 13.6 mi. 665 3,838 17.3 $24,577 87.1 84.1 0.5 0.4 1.3
93241 / Lamont / CA / 9.4 mi. 651 3,593 18.1 $25,147 91.2 89.1 0.2 0.3 0.7
93250 / McFarland / CA / 22.3 mi. 341 2,236 15.3 $25,137 87.4 82.6 3.0 0.5 0.8
93285 / Wofford Heights / CA / 35.9 mi. 246 1,269 19.4 $24,227 11.1 6.3 0.1 0.9 0.6
93257 / Porterville / CA / 44.8 mi. 206 19,524 1.1 $30,995 57.8 49.3 0.8 1.7 4.1
93238 / River Kern / CA / 39.6 mi. 205 864 23.7 $27,955 14.7 8.0 1.1 2.1 0.7
93243 / Lebec / CA / 34.4 mi. 196 438 44.7 $39,091 28.2 22.0 0.3 1.2 0.7
93225 / Frazier Park / CA / 35.1 mi. 160 1,745 9.2 $39,530 15.8 10.4 0.5 1.0 1.1
93249 / Lost Hills / CA / 43.2 mi. 158 469 33.7 $30,625 96.3 95.4 0.2 0.2 0.2
93206 / Buttonwillow / CA / 22.3 mi. 135 564 23.9 $26,912 71.6 65.7 3.2 0.8 0.3
93205 / Bodfish / CA / 31.3 mi. 134 891 15.0 $21,842 11.4 5.2 0.2 2.3 0.6
93518 / Loraine / CA / 29 mi. 128 424 30.2 $31,196 14.0 6.1 0.6 1.8 0.7
93501 / Mojave / CA / 49.9 mi. 92 1,820 5.1 $29,121 36.5 25.4 4.5 1.2 1.9
93219 / Earlimart / CA / 35.6 mi. 91 2,126 4.3 $22,735 94.5 85.4 1.0 0.3 6.7
93222 / Pine Mountain Cl / CA / 34.9 mi. 87 634 13.7 $43,875 14.9 9.5 0.6 1.0 1.2
93283 / Weldon / CA / 41.9 mi. 80 850 9.4 $21,932 15.9 6.1 0.4 5.8 0.5
93531 / Keene / CA / 23.7 mi. 76 545 13.9 $54,792 16.8 9.2 1.4 1.1 0.1
93505 / California City / CA / 58.2 mi. 64 3,038 2.1 $45,868 38.9 17.0 12.5 1.2 3.8
93252 / Maricopa / CA / 28.6 mi. 62 669 9.3 $31,250 28.1 11.4 11.9 1.2 2.9
93224 / Fellows / CA / 30 mi. 56 210 26.7 $38,056 12.8 10.5 0.2 0.8 0.8
93226 / Glennville / CA / 28.5 mi. 42 118 35.6 $37,083 18.9 3.9 0.4 2.5 3.2
93560 / Willow Springs / CA / 52 mi. 40 5,210 0.8 $42,029 39.1 25.7 6.3 0.9 3.0
93527 / Pearsonville / CA / 65.5 mi. 37 926 4.0 $37,361 13.2 6.2 0.4 1.9 1.5
93251 / McKittrick / CA / 34.9 mi. 36 104 34.6 $53,750 17.6 14.9 0.0 0.0 0.3
93562 / Trona / CA / 89.2 mi. 35 785 4.5 $35,952 22.1 15.4 1.5 1.4 1.1
93254 / New Cuyama / CA / 44 mi. 34 273 12.5 $36,500 44.1 41.0 0.4 1.0 0.3
93255 / Onyx / CA / 48.4 mi. 24 279 8.6 $17,171 13.3 4.6 0.0 3.4 0.0
93261 / Richgrove / CA / 27.6 mi. 23 619 3.7 $22,011 97.4 91.4 0.0 0.2 5.4
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