Rockford Register Star... 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

Rockford Register Star

Rockford, Illinois

Owner: Gannett Co. (Va.)

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

19.0

2004

17.5

2003

19.7

2002

17.5

2001

16.7

2000

22.2

1999

18.8

1998

13.2

1997

16.9

1996

14.7

1995

17.2

1994

14.3

1993

18.3

1992

15.3

1991

11.8

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 Rockford Register Star

Year

Non-white % of newsroom staff

Non-white % of circulation area

Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)

2005

19.0

19.7

2004

17.5

19.7

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, Gannett Co. (Va.),

has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 89.

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

Peer group comparison

for Rockford Register Star

This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 97.

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 14 out of 90

newspapers reporting in the category of 50,001 to 100,000 daily sales.

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

approximately 64,518 ranks 158 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 Rockford Register Star

Circulation area

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

7.5

24,490

Black

9.0

29,400

Asian and Pacific Islander

1.6

5,037

Native-American

0.2

682

Other non-white

0.1

230

Multi-racial

1.3

4,202

Non-white

19.7

64,041

White

80.3

261,780

Total

325,821

Home county: Winnebago

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

6.9

19,206

Black

10.4

29,038

Asian and Pacific Islander

1.7

4,795

Native-American

0.2

584

Other non-white

0.1

216

Multi-racial

1.4

3,762

Non-white

20.7

57,601

White

79.3

220,817

Total

278,418

The home county of this newspaper is Winnebago.

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

Rockford Register Star

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

61107 / Rockford / IL / 3.2 mi.

6,054

12,298

49.2

$49,068

13.5

5.7

4.3

0.1

2.3

61108 / Rockford / IL / 2.6 mi.

6,010

11,375

52.8

$44,798

15.5

6.6

5.3

0.2

2.3

61109 / Rockford / IL / 3 mi.

4,736

10,630

44.6

$41,954

20.1

7.4

7.9

0.2

3.0

61103 / Rockford / IL / 3 mi.

4,574

10,233

44.7

$37,181

22.9

6.3

13.7

0.2

0.8

61008 / Belvidere / IL / 11 mi.

4,062

10,115

40.2

$49,637

18.2

15.7

0.9

0.2

0.5

61111 / Loves Park / IL / 5.3 mi.

4,029

8,382

48.1

$45,484

8.8

3.2

2.3

0.2

1.8

61114 / Rockford / IL / 4.7 mi.

3,746

6,018

62.2

$67,605

12.4

2.7

4.6

0.1

3.7

61115 / Machesney Park / IL / 6.8 mi.

3,278

7,597

43.1

$48,182

6.4

2.8

1.4

0.2

1.0

61101 / Rockford / IL / 3.6 mi.

3,180

8,188

38.8

$31,769

47.0

9.1

35.1

0.3

61102 / Rockford / IL / 2.3 mi.

2,833

6,887

41.1

$34,053

59.3

19.0

38.0

0.4

0.3

61073 / The Ledges / IL / 11.7 mi.

2,659

5,488

48.5

$67,597

4.8

1.9

1.1

0.1

0.9

61104 / Rockford / IL / 0 mi.

2,622

8,407

31.2

$27,046

36.7

16.1

13.8

0.3

4.1

61072 / Rockton / IL / 12.6 mi.

1,487

3,109

47.8

$57,951

3.6

1.5

0.6

0.2

0.6

61010 / Byron / IL / 12 mi.

1,183

2,474

47.8

$56,994

2.9

1.0

0.3

0.2

0.5

61088 / Winnebago / IL / 8.1 mi.

1,045

1,669

62.6

$64,063

3.3

1.5

1.0

0.0

0.3

61080 / South Beloit / IL / 14.9 mi.

863

3,466

24.9

$41,875

12.8

6.9

3.4

0.4

0.8

61016 / Perryville / IL / 6 mi.

810

1,466

55.3

$67,348

5.9

2.4

0.8

0.1

1.7

61065 / Poplar Grove / IL / 13.8 mi.

660

2,275

29.0

$58,443

8.3

5.6

1.1

0.2

0.4

61063 / Pecatonica / IL / 12.4 mi.

658

1,555

42.3

$50,072

1.9

0.7

0.2

0.1

61011 / Caledonia / IL / 12.4 mi.

501

709

70.7

$70,489

2.5

1.4

0.2

0.1

0.5

61024 / Durand / IL / 16.2 mi.

414

945

43.8

$50,938

3.6

1.7

1.0

0.3

0.1

61112 / Rockford / IL / 5.1 mi.

263

26300.0

$23,750

66.7

0.0

61038 / Garden Prairie / IL / 16.4 mi.

189

487

38.8

$52,833

7.4

5.5

0.5

0.2

0.7

61012 / Capron / IL / 18.5 mi.

139

666

20.9

$51,917

15.4

13.2

0.5

0.7

0.3

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