Florida Today, Melbourne... Racial diversity of its news staff and community

Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists

at America's daily newspapers

with the communities that they serve

Newsroom diversity report for

Florida Today, Melbourne

Melbourne, Florida

Owner: Gannett Co. (Va.)

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

19.1

2004

22.6

2003

18.9

2002

16.3

2001

13.7

2000

16.5

1999

17.6

1998

18.0

1997

19.1

1996

10.4

1995

15.8

1994

14.6

1993

16.3

1992

11.8

1991

Did not report

1990

7.7

The latest year at peak is

2004

See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.

Newsroom Diversity Index

for Florida Today, Melbourne

Year

Non-white % of newsroom staff

Non-white % of circulation area

Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)

2005

19.1

16.3

117

2004

22.6

15.9

142

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, Gannett Co. (Va.),

has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 89.

See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.

Peer group comparison

for Florida Today, Melbourne

This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 117.

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 9 out of 90

newspapers reporting in the category of 50,001 to 100,000 daily sales.

FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of

approximately 85,764 ranks 124 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 Florida Today, Melbourne

Circulation area

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

4.6

22,686

Black

8.0

39,621

Asian and Pacific Islander

1.5

7,482

Native-American

0.3

1,609

Other non-white

0.2

759

Multi-racial

1.4

7,048

Non-white

15.9

79,205

White

84.1

417,793

Total

496,998

Home county: Brevard

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

4.6

21,970

Black

8.2

39,067

Asian and Pacific Islander

1.5

7,308

Native-American

0.3

1,557

Other non-white

0.2

754

Multi-racial

1.4

6,879

Non-white

16.3

77,535

White

83.7

398,695

Total

476,230

The home county of this newspaper is Brevard.

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

Florida Today, Melbourne

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

32935 / Melbourne / FL / 4.4 mi.

6,436

17,882

36.0

$36,528

14.2

5.4

4.2

0.3

2.4

32940 / Viera / FL / 10.2 mi.

6,297

8,005

78.7

$61,145

10.2

4.3

2.4

0.2

2.3

32937 / Satellite Beach / FL / 6.4 mi.

6,086

11,434

53.2

$48,493

9.2

3.7

1.8

0.3

1.8

32955 / Viera / FL / 16.3 mi.

5,387

10,381

51.9

$46,276

19.2

3.6

12.3

0.2

1.7

32931 / Cocoa Beach / FL / 16.3 mi.

4,954

7,686

64.5

$43,100

5.5

2.5

0.5

0.3

1.1

32780 / Titusville / FL / 33.9 mi.

4,803

13,567

35.4

$38,596

16.4

3.6

10.0

0.4

1.1

32904 / West Melbourne / FL / 3.8 mi.

4,407

7,796

56.5

$39,780

7.4

3.3

1.2

0.2

1.7

32907 / Palm Bay West / FL / 5 mi.

4,147

12,278

33.8

$42,121

23.1

8.6

10.7

0.2

1.7

32901 / Melbourne / FL / 0.1 mi.

4,029

9,721

41.4

$25,261

30.0

5.5

20.0

0.3

1.9

32953 / Merritt Island / FL / 21.3 mi.

3,791

9,041

41.9

$42,424

16.2

4.1

8.1

0.4

1.8

32952 / Merritt Island / FL / 17.4 mi.

3,619

8,373

43.2

$49,229

7.7

3.6

0.8

0.3

1.7

32905 / Palm Bay / FL / 4.8 mi.

3,504

9,810

35.7

$28,214

26.3

9.3

11.9

0.4

2.1

32926 / West Cocoa / FL / 22.2 mi.

3,169

7,522

42.1

$40,799

18.3

2.5

13.3

0.4

0.7

32951 / Melbourne Beach / FL / 7 mi.

2,987

4,874

61.3

$53,094

4.0

2.1

0.2

0.1

0.9

32796 / Titusville / FL / 37.3 mi.

2,955

7,991

37.0

$37,283

16.3

2.9

10.7

0.5

0.9

32927 / Port Saint John / FL / 27.2 mi.

2,887

8,799

32.8

$43,783

15.3

3.9

8.1

0.5

1.0

32903 / Melbourne / FL / 3.6 mi.

2,749

5,685

48.4

$59,773

5.8

2.9

0.6

0.1

1.2

32920 / Port Canaveral / FL / 20.3 mi.

2,590

5,188

49.9

$30,813

8.1

3.5

1.3

0.3

1.8

32934 / Suntree / FL / 5.6 mi.

2,578

5,564

46.3

$45,612

11.8

4.8

3.0

0.2

2.2

32909 / Palm Bay West / FL / 7.7 mi.

2,070

6,451

32.1

$39,762

22.3

8.2

10.3

0.4

1.5

32922 / Cocoa / FL / 19.8 mi.

1,591

6,730

23.6

$23,608

44.3

5.3

35.6

0.6

0.8

32976 / Sebastian / FL / 14.2 mi.

1,066

5,317

20.0

$28,191

2.3

1.3

0.3

0.1

0.2

32754 / Mims / FL / 41.8 mi.

997

3,548

28.1

$35,952

13.6

1.3

10.4

0.6

0.4

32958 / Sebastian / FL / 20.6 mi.

843

8,991

9.4

$37,764

8.4

3.6

2.8

0.3

0.8

32908 / Palm Bay West / FL / 7.1 mi.

668

1,839

36.3

$40,575

20.3

7.5

8.4

0.3

1.0

32950 / Valkaria / FL / 6.3 mi.

624

1,738

35.9

$50,313

11.4

3.3

4.5

0.5

1.3

32925 / Patrick AFB / FL / 9.9 mi.

398

558

71.3

$40,282

38.0

12.2

19.0

0.8

2.9

32960 / Vero Beach / FL / 30 mi.

247

9,312

2.7

$30,754

14.5

6.2

5.2

0.3

1.4

32949 / Grant / FL / 11.1 mi.

218

335

65.1

$36,875

5.7

2.2

1.0

0.7

1.1

32963 / Vero Beach / FL / 31.5 mi.

130

7,011

1.9

$90,105

3.0

1.6

0.3

0.1

0.8

32966 / Vero Beach / FL / 29.5 mi.

6,348

1.1

$35,449

4.7

2.3

1.5

0.1

0.5

32948 / Fellsmere / FL / 19.9 mi.

1,252

4.8

$32,724

68.9

61.8

6.1

0.2

0.1

32962 / Vero Beach / FL / 33.7 mi.

8,738

0.6

$37,148

14.7

3.6

9.0

0.1

0.7

32775 / Scottsmoor / FL / 46.6 mi.

221

23.5

$43,897

5.0

1.0

1.5

0.2

32967 / Vero Beach / FL / 25.9 mi.

4,454

0.7

$36,929

49.6

6.9

41.0

0.2

0.3

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