Tallahassee Democrat... 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

Tallahassee Democrat

Tallahassee, Florida

Owner: Knight Ridder (Calif.)

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

15.8

2004

18.6

2003

15.0

2002

12.9

2001

13.0

2000

15.6

1999

22.4

1998

21.9

1997

14.9

1996

13.4

1995

13.3

1994

14.0

1993

11.1

1992

11.7

1991

11.7

1990

Did not report

The latest year at peak is

1999

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

Newsroom Diversity Index

for Tallahassee Democrat

Year

Non-white % of newsroom staff

Non-white % of circulation area

Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)

2005

15.8

34.7

2004

18.6

37.1

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, Knight Ridder (Calif.),

has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 76.

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

Peer group comparison

for Tallahassee Democrat

This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 46.

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 50 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 Beaumont Enterprise, Texas, with a 24 percent non-white staff in a community that is 33.5 percent non-white. Its index is 72.

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

approximately 50,128 ranks 206 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 Tallahassee Democrat

Circulation area

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

3.6

13,814

Black

30.6

117,736

Asian and Pacific Islander

1.3

5,103

Native-American

0.4

1,378

Other non-white

0.1

413

Multi-racial

1.1

4,287

Non-white

37.1

142,731

White

62.9

242,115

Total

384,846

Home county: Leon

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

3.5

8,407

Black

28.8

69,049

Asian and Pacific Islander

1.9

4,605

Native-American

0.3

634

Other non-white

0.1

322

Multi-racial

1.2

2,961

Non-white

35.9

85,978

White

64.1

153,474

Total

239,452

The home county of this newspaper is Leon.

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

Tallahassee Democrat

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

32312 / Tallahassee / FL / 5.7 mi.

7,014

10,328

67.9

$73,316

15.4

2.3

10.1

0.2

2.1

32303 / Tallahassee / FL / 3.6 mi.

6,951

19,090

36.4

$37,853

30.2

3.6

23.1

0.3

1.7

32301 / Tallahassee / FL / 3.9 mi.

4,771

12,143

39.3

$29,349

53.8

3.5

46.7

0.3

1.8

32308 / Tallahassee / FL / 5.6 mi.

4,074

18,300

22.3

$55,788

23.0

2.9

16.2

0.2

2.4

32304 / Tallahassee / FL / 2.4 mi.

2,974

15,202

19.6

$14,826

45.8

6.0

36.0

0.2

2.1

32311 / Tallahassee / FL / 6.1 mi.

2,438

9,469

25.7

$51,166

30.6

3.9

23.7

0.4

1.3

32310 / Tallahassee / FL / 3.5 mi.

1,977

12,138

16.3

$27,312

58.2

2.0

52.7

0.4

1.7

32333 / Havana / FL / 13.7 mi.

1,556

4,585

33.9

$36,355

46.1

1.1

43.7

0.2

32327 / Wakulla Springs / FL / 15.9 mi.

1,386

6,711

20.7

$38,844

15.8

2.0

11.9

0.6

0.3

32347 / Perry / FL / 44.5 mi.

970

6,277

15.5

$30,054

25.2

1.6

20.9

1.0

0.4

32346 / Panacea / FL / 27.6 mi.

869

974

89.2

$28,875

9.9

1.3

7.0

0.4

0.2

32340 / Madison / FL / 48.4 mi.

645

4,224

15.3

$25,891

50.8

3.8

45.6

0.2

0.3

32343 / Midway / FL / 10.4 mi.

588

444

132.4

$25,833

94.9

0.9

93.4

0.0

0.2

32446 / Marianna / FL / 56.9 mi.

530

3,727

14.2

$35,051

26.8

2.5

21.9

0.4

0.8

31717 / West Bainbridge / GA / 33.6 mi.

499

8,126

6.1

$28,604

43.4

3.0

39.2

0.2

0.4

31792 / Tville / GA / 30.7 mi.

426

8,863

4.8

$30,860

50.0

1.5

47.0

0.3

0.5

32324 / Chattahoochee / FL / 35 mi.

383

1,792

21.4

$29,664

52.8

3.2

48.1

0.2

0.7

32332 / Gretna / FL / 23.8 mi.

296

640

46.3

$24,156

95.8

10.1

85.1

0.1

0.0

31729 / Calvary / GA / 19.7 mi.

289

1070.4

$28,500

3.0

1.5

0.0

32337 / Lloyd / FL / 14.7 mi.

271

1935.7

$18,750

55.9

0.0

55.9

0.0

32328 / Saint George Island / FL / 56.9 mi.

260

1,188

21.9

$32,441

5.7

1.4

2.5

0.3

0.1

32330 / Greensboro / FL / 26.9 mi.

259

316

82.0

$29,286

69.1

38.9

27.9

0.0

1.5

32344 / Monticello / FL / 24.1 mi.

249

3,740

6.7

$33,058

42.3

2.3

38.6

0.3

32321 / Bristol / FL / 38.8 mi.

234

1,539

15.2

$27,933

32.1

5.4

23.3

1.9

0.2

32361 / Wacissa / FL / 17.4 mi.

223

141

158.2

$36,786

25.8

1.3

23.4

0.3

0.0

32320 / Apalachicola / FL / 61.1 mi.

214

1,493

14.3

$24,702

28.3

1.5

25.1

0.4

0.2

32424 / Blountstown / FL / 42.5 mi.

200

2,316

8.6

$24,888

33.8

4.8

25.4

1.2

0.8

32442 / Grand Ridge / FL / 44.5 mi.

186

1,304

14.3

$32,854

8.3

1.2

5.1

1.0

0.1

32322 / Carrabelle / FL / 37.8 mi.

170

1,048

16.2

$25,556

26.7

4.6

20.2

0.4

0.2

32428 / Sunny Hills / FL / 73.1 mi.

151

5,364

2.8

$28,571

19.5

2.6

13.5

1.3

0.5

32456 / Port Saint Joe / FL / 69.5 mi.

142

3,280

4.3

$32,694

18.9

0.8

15.8

0.4

0.6

32351 / Quincy / FL / 18.9 mi.

135

8,089

1.7

$30,602

70.8

8.0

61.9

0.2

31797 / Whigham / GA / 32.2 mi.

124

1,354

9.2

$25,145

27.8

1.7

23.0

2.3

0.2

32331 / Greenville / FL / 36.2 mi.

121

1,572

7.7

$28,239

41.1

1.5

38.1

0.4

32323 / Lanark Village / FL / 40.1 mi.

114

209

54.5

$16,731

4.7

1.4

0.6

1.7

0.6

32334 / Hosford / FL / 32.7 mi.

112

656

17.1

$33,831

2.9

1.6

0.4

0.7

0.1

32421 / Altha / FL / 51.8 mi.

1,409

4.5

$29,901

7.9

2.9

3.3

1.1

0.1

32358 / Sopchoppy / FL / 24.6 mi.

784

6.4

$36,486

14.1

2.2

10.4

0.4

File

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Time

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