Herald & Review, Decatur... 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

Herald & Review, Decatur

Decatur, Illinois

Owner: Lee Enterprises (Iowa)

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

11.1

2004

10.0

2003

3.4

2002

5.0

2001

8.3

2000

6.8

1999

6.5

1998

Did not report

1997

2.9

1996

0.0

1995

0.0

1994

0.0

1993

0.0

1992

2.8

1991

0.0

1990

0.0

The latest year at peak is

2005

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

Newsroom Diversity Index

for Herald & Review, Decatur

Year

Non-white % of newsroom staff

Non-white % of circulation area

Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)

2005

11.1

11.0

101

2004

10.0

11.0

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, Lee Enterprises (Iowa),

has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 47.

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

Peer group comparison

for Herald & Review, Decatur

This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 101.

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 15 out of 140

newspapers reporting in the category of 25,001 to 50,000 daily sales.

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

approximately 34,976 ranks 291 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 Herald & Review, Decatur

Circulation area

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

0.8

1,477

Black

8.6

16,152

Asian and Pacific Islander

0.4

782

Native-American

0.1

264

Other non-white

0.1

141

Multi-racial

0.9

1,743

Non-white

11.0

20,559

White

89.1

167,116

Total

187,675

Home county: Macon

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

1.0

1,120

Black

14.0

16,036

Asian and Pacific Islander

0.6

668

Native-American

0.2

180

Other non-white

0.1

117

Multi-racial

1.3

1,457

Non-white

17.1

19,578

White

82.9

95,128

Total

114,706

The home county of this newspaper is Macon.

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

Herald & Review, Decatur

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

62526 / Decatur / IL / 4.4 mi.

7,125

15,676

45.5

$32,178

19.1

1.3

15.3

0.2

0.7

62521 / Decatur / IL / 3.3 mi.

7,036

15,265

46.1

$39,449

18.5

0.9

15.5

0.2

0.6

62522 / Decatur / IL / 6.3 mi.

2,739

7,047

38.9

$33,378

26.2

1.0

22.5

0.2

0.5

62523 / Decatur / IL / 0 mi.

2,025

349

580.2

$8,182

56.2

0.9

53.0

0.3

0.1

62549 / Mount Zion / IL / 8.3 mi.

1,049

2,154

48.7

$56,359

2.0

0.3

0.2

0.6

62565 / Shelbyville / IL / 31.7 mi.

886

3,198

27.7

$36,987

1.6

0.7

0.1

0.3

62535 / Forsyth / IL / 6.1 mi.

811

949

85.5

$72,188

3.5

0.7

1.2

0.2

1.2

61951 / Sullivan / IL / 26.4 mi.

772

2,808

27.5

$39,528

1.5

0.4

0.2

0.1

61938 / Mattoon / IL / 38.1 mi.

660

9,617

6.9

$34,437

3.9

1.2

1.3

0.2

0.5

62557 / Pana / IL / 31 mi.

640

3,111

20.6

$31,424

1.3

0.4

0.1

0.3

62401 / Effingham / IL / 53.4 mi.

500

7,650

6.5

$39,180

2.4

1.0

0.3

0.2

0.5

62550 / Moweaqua / IL / 16.7 mi.

479

1,141

42.0

$46,964

1.6

0.4

0.2

0.1

0.2

62501 / Argenta / IL / 13.2 mi.

458

616

74.4

$46,179

1.6

0.1

0.5

0.2

0.1

61756 / Maroa / IL / 11.6 mi.

368

830

44.3

$42,461

1.6

0.7

0.1

0.2

62568 / Taylorville / IL / 28.1 mi.

351

6,242

5.6

$37,775

7.2

1.5

4.4

0.2

0.6

61727 / Clinton / IL / 20.7 mi.

347

4,171

8.3

$39,868

3.7

1.7

0.6

0.1

0.3

62544 / Macon / IL / 10.6 mi.

337

658

51.2

$40,069

1.5

0.5

0.4

0.0

62471 / Vandalia / IL / 67.4 mi.

327

3,574

9.1

$32,489

12.4

1.3

10.3

0.1

0.2

62554 / Oreana / IL / 9.2 mi.

311

632

49.2

$56,653

1.8

0.5

0.2

0.0

0.2

61818 / Cerro Gordo / IL / 14 mi.

290

678

42.8

$42,813

1.4

0.5

0.2

0.0

0.3

61911 / Arthur / IL / 28.2 mi.

290

1,395

20.8

$38,789

1.0

0.6

0.0

0.2

0.1

62573 / Warrensburg / IL / 10.9 mi.

284

622

45.7

$46,831

2.7

0.4

0.6

0.3

62510 / Assumption / IL / 24.2 mi.

279

750

37.2

$37,500

0.4

0.1

61914 / Bethany / IL / 18.4 mi.

278

750

37.1

$39,762

1.1

0.3

0.2

0.1

61937 / Lovington / IL / 18.2 mi.

278

996

27.9

$40,125

1.2

0.3

0.2

0.3

0.2

61856 / Monticello / IL / 24.9 mi.

273

2,725

10.0

$48,598

1.6

0.7