Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
Savannah Morning News
Savannah, Georgia
Owner: Morris Communications (Ga.)
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	6.5
2004	8.9
2003	7.8
2002	3.6
2001	Did not report
2000	Did not report
1999	Did not report
1998	Did not report
1997	13.4
1996	Did not report
1995	Did not report
1994	Did not report
1993	Did not report
1992	Did not report
1991	Did not report
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 Savannah Morning News
Year	Non-white % of newsroom staff	Non-white % of circulation area	Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005	6.5	39.5	16
2004	8.9	39.2	23
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, Morris Communications (Ga.),
has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 21.
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Peer group comparison
for Savannah Morning News
This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 16.				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 87 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 The Times, Shreveport, Louisiana, with a 31.1 percent non-white staff in a community that is 41.3 percent non-white. Its index is 75.
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of
approximately 53,825 ranks 188 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 Savannah Morning News
	Circulation area
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	3.8	16,205
Black	32.9	139,510
Asian and Pacific Islander	1.2	5,237
Native-American	0.2	978
Other non-white	0.1	450
Multi-racial	1.0	4,020
Non-white	39.2	166,400
White	60.8	257,747
Total		424,147
	Home county:  Chatham
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	2.3	5,403
Black	40.3	93,463
Asian and Pacific Islander	1.8	4,120
Native-American	0.2	517
Other non-white	0.1	311
Multi-racial	1.1	2,432
Non-white	45.8	106,246
White	54.2	125,802
Total		232,048
The home county of this newspaper is Chatham.
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
Savannah Morning News
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
31406 / Savannah / GA / 14.7 mi.	5,721	13,516	42.3	$42,875	35.2	2.6	29.1	0.2	2.1
31404 / Thunderbolt / GA / 14.8 mi.	4,627	12,020	38.5	$28,564	70.5	1.1	66.2	0.2	1.9
31419 / Savannah / GA / 11.1 mi.	4,527	16,126	28.1	$42,173	36.8	4.1	28.1	0.3	2.6
31405 / Savannah / GA / 11.6 mi.	4,298	12,169	35.3	$33,947	53.6	2.4	49.0	0.3	0.9
31410 / Wilmington Island / GA / 21.5 mi.	3,909	8,721	44.8	$60,182	12.0	1.6	6.0	0.1	3.3
31401 / Savannah / GA / 12.6 mi.	3,275	8,960	36.6	$18,100	69.5	1.4	65.6	0.2	1.4
31411 / Village Station / GA / 19.2 mi.	2,297	3,207	71.6	$96,229	3.0	0.8	0.5	0.0	1.4
31324 / Richmond Hill / GA / 14.5 mi.	1,834	4,942	37.1	$59,190	15.8	2.6	10.5	0.3	1.1
31408 / Savannah / GA / 8.5 mi.	1,718	3,865	44.5	$29,034	55.6	5.9	47.1	0.3	1.0
31312 / Pineora / GA / 14.7 mi.	1,575	3,760	41.9	$46,760	11.8	1.2	9.0	0.3	0.3
31415 / Savannah / GA / 11.2 mi.	1,489	4,774	31.2	$18,830	99.3	0.6	97.8	0.1	0.1
31326 / Rincon / GA / 13.6 mi.	1,297	4,323	30.0	$51,455	14.6	2.0	10.5	0.2	0.9
31322 / Savannah / GA / 4.8 mi.	1,234	2,211	55.8	$47,485	12.6	1.2	7.6	0.2	2.1
31313 / Hinesville / GA / 21.9 mi.	924	12,414	7.4	$34,433	58.8	8.7	43.7	0.4	2.7
30458 / Statesboro / GA / 33.2 mi.	856	12,100	7.1	$24,343	38.3	2.1	34.1	0.1	1.1
31328 / Tybee Island / GA / 27 mi.	839	1,704	49.2	$50,368	5.0	1.4	1.8	0.6	0.8
29910 / Spring Island / SC / 27.4 mi.	737	7,198	10.2	$54,017	19.0	5.2	12.5	0.2	0.4
31407 / Savannah / GA / 9.8 mi.	707	1,272	55.6	$42,414	19.3	3.1	14.0	0.5	1.1
31545 / McKinnon / GA / 43.3 mi.	696	5,212	13.4	$31,849	24.6	3.6	19.3	0.3	0.5
31302 / Bloomingdale / GA / 2.4 mi.	632	2,778	22.8	$43,799	7.2	1.0	4.5	0.5	0.4
30474 / Vidalia / GA / 59.2 mi.	584	5,959	9.8	$28,902	35.0	5.2	28.5	0.1	0.7
30427 / Tison / GA / 33.9 mi.	542	3,754	14.4	$31,236	40.1	10.1	28.9	0.1	0.4
29926 / Hilton Head Island / SC / 33.9 mi.	535	7,621	7.0	$59,917	24.9	11.9	11.9	0.1	0.5
31320 / Midway / GA / 17.9 mi.	512	2,562	20.0	$34,014	39.0