Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
The Reporter, Vacaville
Vacaville, California
Owner: MediaNews Group (Colo.)
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 9.7
2004 3.3
2003 6.7
2002 Did not report
2001 12.9
2000 7.3
1999 5.6
1998 2.8
1997 2.8
1996 2.6
1995 0.0
1994 0.0
1993 0.0
1992 0.0
1991 2.6
1990 2.6
The latest year at peak is 2001
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Newsroom Diversity Index
for The Reporter, Vacaville
Year Non-white % of newsroom staff Non-white % of circulation area Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005 9.7 37.6 26
2004 3.3 37.6 9
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, MediaNews Group (Colo.),
has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 47.
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Peer group comparison
for The Reporter, Vacaville
This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 26. 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 138 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 Muskogee Daily Phoenix and Times-Democrat, Oklahoma, with a 43.5 percent non-white staff in a community that is 36.9 percent non-white. Its index is 118.
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of
approximately 17,656 ranks 536 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 Reporter, Vacaville
Circulation area
Race/ethnicity % of population Number of residents
Hispanic 21.8 26,763
Black 7.5 9,237
Asian and Pacific Islander 3.9 4,827
Native-American 0.7 816
Other non-white 0.2 220
Multi-racial 3.5 4,230
  Non-white 37.6 46,093
White 62.4 76,510
Total 122,603
Home county:  Solano
Race/ethnicity % of population Number of residents
Hispanic 17.6 69,598
Black 14.6 57,597
Asian and Pacific Islander 13.3 52,258
Native-American 0.6 2,194
Other non-white 0.2 955
Multi-racial 4.5 17,658
  Non-white 50.8 200,260
White 49.2 194,282
Total 394,542
The home county of this newspaper is Solano.
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 Reporter, Vacaville
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
95687 / Vacaville / CA / 7.3 mi. 7,977 19,269 41.4 $56,811 38.2 16.5 12.1 0.7 4.8
95688 / Vacaville / CA / 0 mi. 7,009 11,300 62.0 $61,828 30.5 19.2 3.9 0.7 3.4
95620 / Dixon / CA / 13.4 mi. 1,301 5,758 22.6 $54,448 43.2 35.2 1.6 0.6 3.0
94533 / Fairfield / CA / 9.3 mi. 632 25,900 2.4 $50,537 53.3 20.3 15.6 0.5 11.4
95694 / Winters / CA / 9.8 mi. 285 2,657 10.7 $49,038 48.0 43.2 0.5 0.5 1.5
94585 / Suisun City / CA / 11.5 mi. 263 12,252 2.1 $66,010 53.5 16.3 15.2 0.5 15.9
94571 / Rio Vista / CA / 19.7 mi. 109 2,148 5.1 $45,142 19.8 13.8 1.0 0.8 1.6
94535 / Travis AFB / CA / 11.8 mi. 98 2,383 4.1 $36,518 39.0 11.1 11.2 0.8 9.8
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