The Daily Commercial, Leesburg... 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

The Daily Commercial, Leesburg

Leesburg, Florida

Owner: HarborPoint Media (Fla.)

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

0.0

2004

0.0

2003

0.0

2002

Did not report

2001

0.0

2000

4.8

1999

Did not report

1998

Did not report

1997

0.0

1996

10.3

1995

12.1

1994

18.5

1993

13.9

1992

14.3

1991

18.9

1990

Did not report

The latest year at peak is

1991

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

Newsroom Diversity Index

for The Daily Commercial, Leesburg

Year

Non-white % of newsroom staff

Non-white % of circulation area

Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)

2005

0.0

17.4

2004

0.0

17.4

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, HarborPoint Media (Fla.),

has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 0.

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

Peer group comparison

for The Daily Commercial, Leesburg

This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 0.

This paper

Peer group

Compare that with 44, which is the median Diversity Index for all newspapers

reporting in this circulation category of 25,001 to 50,000 daily sales.

In that group, this newspaper's Diversity Index ranks 123 out of 140

newspapers reporting in the category of 25,001 to 50,000 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 The Jackson Sun, Tennessee, with a 37.5 percent non-white staff in a community that is 24.7 percent non-white. Its index is 152.

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

approximately 27,186 ranks 375 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 Daily Commercial, Leesburg

Circulation area

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

4.9

10,343

Black

10.7

22,624

Asian and Pacific Islander

0.6

1,324

Native-American

0.3

643

Other non-white

0.1

105

Multi-racial

0.8

1,700

Non-white

17.4

36,739

White

82.6

173,992

Total

210,731

Home county: Lake

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

5.6

11,808

Black

8.2

17,231

Asian and Pacific Islander

0.8

1,702

Native-American

0.3

603

Other non-white

0.1

168

Multi-racial

0.8

1,731

Non-white

15.8

33,243

White

84.2

177,285

Total

210,528

The home county of this newspaper is Lake.

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 Daily Commercial, Leesburg

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

34748 / Leesburg / FL / 0.5 mi.

6,776

14,035

48.3

$33,009

22.8

2.9

17.9

0.2

0.9

34788 / Leesburg / FL / 6.3 mi.

2,395

7,358

32.5

$32,309

6.2

2.2

2.1

0.2

0.9

32159 / The Villages / FL / 8.2 mi.

2,232

14,057

15.9

$37,010

5.0

1.8

2.1

0.2

0.5

32778 / Tavares / FL / 8 mi.

2,080

6,494

32.0

$33,221

11.8

3.4

6.8

0.3

0.7

34785 / Wildwood / FL / 9.9 mi.

1,861

4,857

38.3

$26,798

40.7

12.3

26.7

0.3

0.4

32726 / Eustis / FL / 15 mi.

1,778

7,449

23.9

$32,954

24.9

6.2

16.9

0.3

0.7

34731 / Fruitland Park / FL / 3.7 mi.

1,737

4,079

42.6

$36,617

9.0

2.1

4.8

0.2

1.0

32757 / Mount Dora / FL / 14.3 mi.

1,306

7,950

16.4

$37,364

23.7

7.6

14.3

0.2

0.8

33513 / Bushnell / FL / 16.3 mi.

1,238

3,695

33.5

$27,997

20.5

3.8

14.3

0.8

0.5

32784 / Umatilla / FL / 14.2 mi.

929

3,490

26.6

$32,963

11.3

4.6

5.0

0.5

0.3

34711 / Clermont / FL / 18.9 mi.

866

14,323

6.0

$48,690

18.3

9.4

6.1

0.4

1.3

33538 / Lake Panasoffkee / FL / 18.5 mi.

619

2,095

29.5

$27,208

4.6

1.2

1.5

0.7

0.4

34736 / Groveland / FL / 15.4 mi.

536

2,834

18.9

$39,368

24.1

12.6

10.0

0.5

0.3

33597 / Webster / FL / 22.3 mi.

419

2,761

15.2

$27,913

20.2

6.0

11.9

0.7

0.3

32735 / Grand Island / FL / 9.5 mi.

327

1,126

29.0

$33,948

7.0

3.8

2.1

0.2

0.7

34491 / Summerfield / FL / 15 mi.

217

8,204

2.6

$32,351

10.8

6.0

3.3

0.4

0.2

32195 / Weirsdale / FL / 11.2 mi.

199

1,209

16.5

$40,410

17.0

3.4

11.9

0.3

0.4

32702 / Altoona / FL / 19.4 mi.

184

1,135

16.2

$34,345

6.5

2.1

2.7

0.5

0.1

32776 / Sorrento / FL / 19.4 mi.

166

2,429

6.8

$44,820

12.0

6.4

3.2

0.4

1.0

32736 / Eustis / FL / 21.1 mi.

158

2,889

5.5

$46,571

7.3

4.0

1.1

0.4

0.8

34484 / Oxford / FL / 11.8 mi.

158

874

18.1

$37,741

12.5

3.7

6.8

0.1

0.4

34737 / Howey in the Hills / FL / 8.5 mi.

134

723

18.5

$50,128

11.2

5.0

4.1

0.1

0.8

34797 / Yalaha / FL / 5.4 mi.

129

450

28.7

$34,258

13.6

3.4

8.2

0.2

0.9

32767 / Paisley / FL / 23.5 mi.

105

896

11.7

$26,172

5.1

2.5

0.5

0.4

0.3

33514 / Centerhill / FL / 10.1 mi.

547

16.8

$30,588

27.5

18.0

7.1

0.4

0.7

34753 / Mascotte / FL / 14.8 mi.

876

8.7

$36,581

40.7

34.1

4.4

0.4

33521 / Coleman / FL / 10.8 mi.

182

41.2

$29,643

42.7

3.0

39.1

0.0

0.2

33585 / Sumterville / FL / 10.1 mi.

291

25.1

$25,388

17.9

6.1

8.6

1.0

1.3

34762 / Okahumpka / FL / 3.8 mi.

162

43.8

$17,813

4.0

2.4

1.3

0.0

34705 / Astatula / FL / 11.3 mi.

792

8.7

$35,644

17.1

14.3

0.8

0.3

0.2

32102 / Astor / FL / 29.1 mi.

1,162

4.0

$29,514

11.1

9.5

0.6

0.5

0.1

34756 / Montverde / FL / 17.8 mi.

874

2.7

$49,500

6.8

4.2

0.9

0.5

0.6

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