Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
Observer, New Smyrna Beach
New Smyrna Beach, Florida
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	Did not report
2004	Did not report
2003	Did not report
2002	Did not report
2001	12.5
2000	Did not report
1999	0.0
1998	0.0
1997	0.0
1996	0.0
1995	0.0
1994	0.0
1993	0.0
1992	0.0
1991	0.0
1990	0.0
The latest year at peak is	2001
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Newsroom Diversity Index
for Observer, New Smyrna Beach
Year	Non-white % of newsroom staff	Non-white % of circulation area	Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005	N/A	9.5	N/A
2004	N/A	9.5	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 Observer, New Smyrna Beach
		This paper
						Peer group
The median Diversity Index is 0 for all newspapers
reporting in this circulation category of 5,000 and fewer 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 Clanton Advertiser, Alabama, with a 25 percent non-white staff in a community that is 14.4 percent non-white. Its index is 174.
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of
approximately 4,000 ranks 1245 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 Observer, New Smyrna Beach
	Circulation area
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	1.5	301
Black	6.2	1,250
Asian and Pacific Islander	0.5	105
Native-American	0.3	62
Other non-white	0.1	14
Multi-racial	0.9	175
Non-white	9.5	1,907
White	90.5	18,141
Total		20,048
	Home county:  Volusia
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	6.6	29,111
Black	9.1	40,380
Asian and Pacific Islander	1.0	4,498
Native-American	0.3	1,232
Other non-white	0.1	441
Multi-racial	1.1	4,636
Non-white	18.1	80,298
White	81.9	363,045
Total		443,343
The home county of this newspaper is Volusia.
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: Newspaper's home city.
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.
File	fl_observer__new_smyrna_beach
Time	5/15/05 8:32 PM
Page	1244
Member	0