The Valdosta Daily Times... 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 Valdosta Daily Times

Valdosta, Georgia

Owner: Community Newspaper Holdings (Ala.)

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

5.9

2003

17.6

2002

16.7

2001

19.0

2000

25.0

1999

5.6

1998

0.0

1997

0.0

1996

10.0

1995

Did not report

1994

Did not report

1993

0.0

1992

5.9

1991

0.0

1990

Did not report

The latest year at peak is

2000

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

Newsroom Diversity Index

for The Valdosta Daily Times

Year

Non-white % of newsroom staff

Non-white % of circulation area

Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)

2005

N/A

36.7

N/A

2004

5.9

36.7

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, Community Newspaper Holdings (Ala.),

has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 41.

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

Peer group comparison

for The Valdosta Daily Times

This paper

Peer group

The median Diversity Index is 33 for all newspapers

reporting in this circulation category of 10,001 to 25,000 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 Muskogee Daily Phoenix and Times-Democrat, Oklahoma, with a 43.5 percent non-white staff in a community that is 36.9 percent non-white. Its index is 118.

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

approximately 16,378 ranks 575 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 Valdosta Daily Times

Circulation area

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

3.0

4,119

Black

31.4

43,326

Asian and Pacific Islander

0.9

1,244

Native-American

0.3

424

Other non-white

0.1

127

Multi-racial

1.0

1,366

Non-white

36.7

50,606

White

63.3

87,326

Total

137,932

Home county: Lowndes

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

2.7

2,447

Black

33.8

31,128

Asian and Pacific Islander

1.2

1,118

Native-American

0.3

305

Other non-white

0.1

104

Multi-racial

1.1

1,021

Non-white

39.2

36,123

White

60.8

55,992

Total

92,115

The home county of this newspaper is Lowndes.

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 Valdosta Daily Times

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

31602 / Valdosta / GA / 0.2 mi.

4,566

11,294

40.4

$36,664

31.3

2.1

26.0

0.3

1.6

31601 / Valdosta / GA / 3 mi.

4,010

10,836

37.0

$22,347

63.0

2.5

58.8

0.3

0.6

31632 / Hahira / GA / 8.6 mi.

1,816

2,674

67.9

$36,675

18.6

2.5

14.7

0.4

0.3

31605 / Valdosta / GA / 5.3 mi.

1,569

5,197

30.2

$43,844

30.4

3.7

22.0

0.4

2.6

31636 / Lakepark / GA / 12.8 mi.

753

2,972

25.3

$32,694

20.4

10.0

8.7

0.4

31639 / Nashville / GA / 21.4 mi.

672

3,698

18.2

$30,940

15.1

2.1

11.3

0.3

0.4

31643 / Quitman / GA / 16.2 mi.

499

3,485

14.3

$25,132

51.0

2.4

47.5

0.1

0.3

31620 / Adel / GA / 18.8 mi.

486

3,648

13.3

$27,658

36.0

3.1

31.6

0.1

0.6

31606 / Valdosta / GA / 7.6 mi.

454

1,312

34.6

$36,743

15.3

1.6

12.3

0.5

0.2

31635 / Lakeland / GA / 15.9 mi.

364

1,732

21.0

$27,323

31.4

2.4

27.3

0.4

31645 / Ray City / GA / 13.9 mi.

154

1,239

12.4

$29,694

14.6

1.7

10.8

0.3

0.5

31641 / Naylor / GA / 15.9 mi.

142

499

28.5

$41,923

34.6

0.4

31.9

1.0

0.2

31648 / Statenville / GA / 26.4 mi.

142

332

42.8

$26,633

27.6

11.4

13.8

1.8

0.0

31625 / Barney / GA / 15.5 mi.

413

20.3

$36,842

35.5

5.9

27.4

0.4

32340 / Madison / FL / 27.2 mi.

4,224

1.8

$25,891

50.8

3.8

45.6

0.2

0.3

31634 / Homerville / GA / 31.2 mi.

1,995

3.7

$25,214

33.4

0.7

31.6

0.2

32053 / Jennings / FL / 20 mi.

1,205

5.7

$26,316

37.4

10.4

25.8

0.2

0.4

32052 / Jasper / FL / 29.4 mi.

2,268

3.0

$25,302

47.7

6.0

40.3

0.3

0.2

31638 / Morven / GA / 12 mi.

344

19.5

$23,705

51.1

6.3

44.6

0.1

0.0

31647 / Sparks / GA / 21.4 mi.

1,105

6.1

$27,723

29.7

3.3

25.1

0.1

0.3

31649 / Stockton / GA / 18.5 mi.

324

18.2

$27,417

18.0

0.6

15.0

0.2

0.1

32350 / Pinetta / FL / 17.4 mi.

458

10.3

$29,750

19.1

1.5

15.9

0.3

0.5

31629 / Dixie / GA / 23.4 mi.

379

10.8

$23,125

57.9

1.8

53.5

0.0

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