Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
The Washington Post
Washington, District of Columbia
Owner: Washington Post
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	21.4
2004	22.6
2003	20.8
2002	20.7
2001	19.5
2000	19.3
1999	17.9
1998	17.7
1997	18.5
1996	19.6
1995	17.8
1994	19.2
1993	18.0
1992	17.0
1991	17.1
1990	16.2
The latest year at peak is	2004
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Newsroom Diversity Index
for The Washington Post
Year	Non-white % of newsroom staff	Non-white % of circulation area	Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005	21.4	43.2	50
2004	22.6	43.2	52
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, Washington Post,
has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 48.
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Peer group comparison
for The Washington Post
This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 50.				This paper
				Peer group
Compare that with 46, which is the median Diversity Index for all newspapers
reporting in this circulation category of more than 500,000 daily sales.
In that group, this newspaper's Diversity Index ranks 5 out of 10
newspapers reporting in the category of more than 500,000 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 Chicago Tribune, Illinois, with a 17.7 percent non-white staff in a community that is 28.5 percent non-white. Its index is 62.
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of
approximately 707,690 ranks 6 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 Washington Post
	Circulation area
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	8.5	442,615
Black	25.5	1,333,720
Asian and Pacific Islander	6.7	349,797
Native-American	0.2	12,650
Other non-white	0.2	12,733
Multi-racial	2.2	112,643
Non-white	43.2	2,264,158
White	56.8	2,974,375
Total		5,238,533
	Home county:  D.C.
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	7.9	44,953
Black	59.5	340,088
Asian and Pacific Islander	2.7	15,312
Native-American	0.2	1,274
Other non-white	0.3	1,670
Multi-racial	1.7	9,584
Non-white	72.2	412,881
White	27.8	159,178
Total		572,059
The home county of this newspaper is D.C..
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 Washington Post
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
20854 / Potomac / MD / 13.3 mi.	11,165	15,087	74.0	$140,222	24.9	4.8	4.3	0.1	13.6
20002 / Washington / DC / 2.6 mi.	10,512	21,179	49.6	$35,313	82.6	2.2	77.6	0.3	0.9
20001 / Washington / DC / 0.9 mi.	9,939	11,981	83.0	$25,095	94.8	7.5	81.3	0.3	3.9
20009 / Washington / DC / 1.1 mi.	8,913	25,002	35.6	$42,106	57.8	19.9	30.9	0.3	4.0
20906 / Silver Spring / MD / 12.9 mi.	8,905	23,644	37.7	$55,562	55.4	17.8	22.4	0.2	11.7
20016 / Washington / DC / 3.9 mi.	8,799	13,926	63.2	$80,651	21.1	6.9	5.7	0.2	5.1
20817 / Bethesda / MD / 9 mi.	8,583	13,171	65.2	$113,788	21.4	5.7	3.1	0.1	10.2
20008 / Washington / DC / 2.6 mi.	8,399	16,088	52.2	$66,339	20.3	6.5	5.2	0.1	6.1
20852 / Rockville / MD / 11.3 mi.	8,307	15,734	52.8	$69,097	32.9	9.1	4.8	0.2	16.4
22101 / Mc Lean / VA / 7.6 mi.	8,225	10,552	77.9	$125,105	19.2	3.9	1.7	0.1	11.0
22003 / Annandale / VA / 12.4 mi.	8,060	19,092	42.2	$73,747	41.3	13.5	5.5	0.2	19.0
20815 / Chevy Chase / MD / 5.9 mi.	8,037	12,493	64.3	$95,511	14.6	5.0	3.2	0.1	4.5
20011 / Washington / DC / 3.3 mi.	8,024	22,751	35.3	$39,757	95.7	13.6	79.1	0.2	0.7
20878 / Gaithersburg / MD / 18.7 mi.	8,004	19,201	41.7	$84,330	39.4	8.9	8.6	0.2	19.0
22314 / Alexandria / VA / 6.7 mi.	7,737	13,625	56.8	$71,113	31.3	5.1	22.2	0.2	2.2
20007 / Washington / DC / 2.4 mi.	7,536	12,642	59.6	$70,815	17.5	5.4	3.9	0.1	6.0
20814 / Bethesda / MD / 7.8 mi.	7,455	12,124	61.5	$77,568	19.8	6.1	3.3	0.1	7.6
20910 / Silver Spring / MD / 6.7 mi.	7,371	16,292	45.2	$50,552	54.5	13.5	31.0	0.2	6.2
22207 / Arlington / VA / 4.8 mi.	7,002	11,439	61.2	$100,390	18.9	7.5	4.8	0.2	4.6
22202 / Arlington / VA / 3.5 mi.	6,741	9,655	69.8	$65,015	29.8	6.9	7.0	0.2	12.9
22015 / Burke / VA / 15.5 mi.	6,618	14,402	46.0	$91,652	32.0	8.4	4.8	0.2	15.6
20850 / Rockville / MD / 15 mi.	6,458	12,064	53.5	$74,655	38.1	8.4	9.9	0.2	17.3
22030 / Fairfax / VA / 17.4 mi.	6,426	13,160	48.8	$79,659	33.3	9.7	7.3	0.2	13.6
20036 / Washington / DC / 0.4 mi.	6,364	2,883	220.7	$51,847	23.0	7.4	5.2	0.2	7.6
20904 / Silver Spring / MD / 11.5 mi.	6,199	18,134	34.2	$60,390	63.5