Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
Columbus, Georgia
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 24.1
2004 19.3
2003 16.9
2002 19.0
2001 20.0
2000 13.0
1999 20.6
1998 22.4
1997 28.6
1996 24.1
1995 20.4
1994 21.1
1993 20.3
1992 17.2
1991 14.6
1990 Did not report
The latest year at peak is 1997
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Newsroom Diversity Index
for Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
Year Non-white % of newsroom staff Non-white % of circulation area Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005 24.1 44.8 54
2004 19.3 45.6 42
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 Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 54. 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 52 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 Tucson Citizen, Arizona, with a 31.3 percent non-white staff in a community that is 44.7 percent non-white. Its index is 70.
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of
approximately 45,559 ranks 233 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 Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
Circulation area
Race/ethnicity % of population Number of residents
Hispanic 3.6 11,922
Black 39.1 128,216
Asian and Pacific Islander 1.2 3,883
Native-American 0.3 1,114
Other non-white 0.1 418
Multi-racial 1.2 3,957
  Non-white 45.6 149,510
White 54.4 178,435
Total 327,945
Home county:  Muscogee
Race/ethnicity % of population Number of residents
Hispanic 4.5 8,372
Black 43.3 80,720
Asian and Pacific Islander 1.6 3,038
Native-American 0.3 618
Other non-white 0.2 297
Multi-racial 1.4 2,578
  Non-white 51.3 95,623
White 48.7 90,668
Total 186,291
The home county of this newspaper is Muscogee.
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
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
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
31907 / Columbus / GA / 4 mi. 8,536 20,427 41.8 $38,693 63.6 3.8 56.2 0.3 1.5
31904 / Columbus / GA / 1.3 mi. 5,765 12,076 47.7 $33,746 26.4 3.1 20.2 0.5 1.5
31909 / Columbus / GA / 3.6 mi. 5,422 10,812 50.1 $48,979 19.7 3.5 11.6 0.4 2.8
31906 / Columbus / GA / 2.3 mi. 4,128 10,372 39.8 $28,865 70.0 2.5 65.7 0.1 0.6
36867 / Phenix City / AL / 3 mi. 2,780 8,054 34.5 $30,363 30.7 1.7 27.3 0.3 0.7
31901 / Columbus / GA / 1.8 mi. 2,433 3,523 69.1 $17,817 59.1 2.2 55.1 0.3 0.4
31903 / Columbus / GA / 5.1 mi. 2,372 8,559 27.7 $21,892 80.9 7.5 70.0 0.2 1.6
36869 / Phenix City / AL / 4.6 mi. 1,703 7,147 23.8 $26,886 54.4 1.2 51.5 0.3 0.2
31905 / Fort Benning / GA / 9.1 mi. 1,542 3,905 39.5 $32,862 46.9 13.8 26.9 0.8 2.3
36870 / Phenix City / AL / 3 mi. 1,135 4,043 28.1 $41,172 15.1 2.4 10.9 0.4 0.4
36877 / Smiths Station / AL / 7.3 mi. 936 4,052 23.1 $42,905 18.2 1.6 14.8 0.4 0.4
31820 / Midland / GA / 8.1 mi. 903 1,752 51.5 $78,435 19.6 2.3 13.1 0.3 3.2
31804 / Cataula / GA / 9.8 mi. 862 1,601 53.8 $55,588 15.3 0.8 13.1 0.4 0.4
36874 / Salem / AL / 13.5 mi. 715 2,335 30.6 $41,062 26.6 0.7 24.5 0.2 0.3
36027 / Eufaula / AL / 40.7 mi. 653 6,849 9.5 $27,283 43.5 1.3 40.8 0.4 0.4
36856 / Fort Mitchell / AL / 10.5 mi. 511 518 98.6 $36,810 45.4 5.5 35.8 0.5 1.3
30240 / Lagrange / GA / 34.4 mi. 505 9,708 5.2 $40,454 28.0 1.9 24.4 0.1 0.8
31822 / Pine Mountain / GA / 25.9 mi. 478 1,823 26.2 $39,183 31.8 1.1 29.6 0.1 0.1
31808 / Fortson / GA / 6.2 mi. 460 1,734 26.5 $65,000 8.8 1.1 5.7 0.5 0.6
31816 / Manchester / GA / 29.9 mi. 454 2,327 19.5 $28,418 39.4 0.8 37.1 0.2 0.8
31811 / Hamilton / GA / 14.5 mi. 420 1,455 28.9 $40,121 27.3 0.8 24.7 0.3 0.6
36854 / Valley / AL / 23 mi. 417 5,761 7.2 $32,653 23.3 0.8 21.4 0.2 0.3
31803 / Tazewell / GA / 27.8 mi. 357 1,780 20.1 $26,046 57.8 7.8 48.7 0.1 0.1
31829 / Upatoi / GA / 13.5 mi. 319 286 111.5 $60,670 15.9 1.0 12.6 0.0 1.0
36830 / Auburn / AL / 28 mi. 315 12,181 2.6 $27,167 22.2 1.8 15.7 0.2 3.4
31807 / Ellerslie / GA / 13.1 mi. 293 559 52.4 $48,563 14.0 2.3 9.6 0.3 0.8
31831 / Waverly Hall / GA / 17.7 mi. 281 951 29.5 $40,667 29.7 1.0 27.0 0.4 0.6
36801 / Opelika / AL / 23.9 mi. 280 8,159 3.4 $32,175 45.3 1.2 42.5 0.2 0.8
31825 / Richland / GA / 31.3 mi. 258 889 29.0 $25,568 58.0 2.3 54.4 0.1 0.4
36863 / Lanett / AL / 27.7 mi. 230 5,463 4.2 $30,046 41.7 0.8 40.0 0.1 0.2
36875 / Seale / AL / 10.8 mi. 228 1,900 12.0 $30,103 34.4 1.6 30.9 0.2 0.4
31805 / Cusseta / GA / 17.2 mi. 206 1,119 18.4 $30,806 38.4 1.7 33.8 0.5 1.1
31815 / Lumpkin / GA / 30.4 mi. 205 919 22.3 $22,583 65.8 0.9 64.4 0.2 0.0
31827 / Talbotton / GA / 29.5 mi. 201 881 22.8 $26,500 75.7 1.4 72.2 0.4 0.7
31830 / Warm Springs / GA / 29.4 mi. 197 886 22.2 $36,163 30.5 0.7 27.3 0.8 0.5
36804 / Opelika / AL / 24.1 mi. 183 5,606 3.3 $37,867 28.7 0.7 25.9 0.2 1.1
31812 / Junction City / GA / 28.9 mi. 160 223 71.7 $23,125 58.2 3.0 53.7 0.4 0.5
31006 / Butler / GA / 40 mi. 153 1,770 8.6 $24,498 49.5 2.5 46.3 0.1 0.1
31833 / West Point / GA / 26.7 mi. 136 2,586 5.3 $32,553 44.2 0.7 42.5 0.1 0.5
31709 / Americus / GA / 49.3 mi. 133 9,794 1.4 $30,459 54.5 2.5 50.6 0.2 0.7
31801 / Juniper / GA / 15.9 mi. 129 932 13.8 $36,214 23.4 1.2 20.1 0.4 0.3
31754 / Georgetown / GA / 41.4 mi. 114 1,061 10.7 $26,919 46.8 0.5 45.7 0.2 0.0
31836 / Woodland / GA / 28.8 mi. 109 452 24.1 $20,688 56.1 1.6 53.3 0.1 0.0
36860 / Hurtsboro / AL / 29.5 mi. 108 860 12.6 $18,153 84.0 0.4 82.7 0.1 0.1
31740 / Cuthbert / GA / 48 mi. 95 2,158 4.4 $20,806 61.2 1.5 58.7 0.4 0.3
36862 / Lafayette / AL / 35.7 mi. 65 2,631 2.5 $26,927 59.4 0.8 58.1 0.1 0.1
31751 / Fort Gaines / GA / 57.7 mi. 54 1,000 5.4 $19,688 65.0 1.2 62.8 0.2 0.1
31824 / Preston / GA / 35.7 mi. 50 645 7.8 $28,542 54.7 3.2 50.9 0.1 0.0
36016 / Clayton / AL / 47.3 mi. 41 1,508 2.7 $22,056 58.9 1.4 56.4 0.3 0.1
36871 / Pittsview / AL / 24.3 mi. 26 625 4.2 $28,194 55.6 2.6 51.1 0.9 0.3
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