Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
The Herald News, Joliet
Joliet, Illinois
Owner: Hollinger International (Ill.)
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 2.7
2004 3.2
2003 0.0
2002 3.8
2001 3.2
2000 3.2
1999 3.4
1998 Did not report
1997 6.7
1996 3.3
1995 3.6
1994 3.3
1993 2.9
1992 0.0
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 The Herald News, Joliet
Year Non-white % of newsroom staff Non-white % of circulation area Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005 2.7 20.5 13
2004 3.2 20.5 16
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, Hollinger International (Ill.),
has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 22.
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Peer group comparison
for The Herald News, Joliet
This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 13. 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 119 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 The Jackson Sun, Tennessee, with a 37.5 percent non-white staff in a community that is 24.7 percent non-white. Its index is 152.
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of
approximately 40,554 ranks 259 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 Herald News, Joliet
Circulation area
Race/ethnicity % of population Number of residents
Hispanic 9.7 33,421
Black 8.6 29,551
Asian and Pacific Islander 1.0 3,476
Native-American 0.2 521
Other non-white 0.1 247
Multi-racial 1.0 3,278
  Non-white 20.5 70,494
White 79.5 273,000
Total 343,494
Home county:  Will
Race/ethnicity % of population Number of residents
Hispanic 8.7 43,768
Black 10.4 51,980
Asian and Pacific Islander 2.2 11,141
Native-American 0.1 672
Other non-white 0.1 536
Multi-racial 1.1 5,646
  Non-white 22.7 113,743
White 77.4 388,523
Total 502,266
The home county of this newspaper is Will.
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 Herald News, Joliet
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
60435 / Stateville / IL / 2.1 mi. 8,532 21,196 40.3 $44,910 23.6 11.6 9.1 0.2 1.4
60431 / Shorewood / IL / 3.2 mi. 4,202 7,643 55.0 $71,030 13.2 5.5 5.1 0.2 1.6
60544 / Plainfield / IL / 7.6 mi. 3,633 15,007 24.2 $70,417 11.3 6.2 2.1 0.1 1.9
60436 / Shorewood / IL / 0 mi. 2,872 6,254 45.9 $36,099 40.3 14.4 23.2 0.2 0.6
60441 / Romeoville / IL / 9 mi. 2,476 15,166 16.3 $65,322 14.6 4.9 7.7 0.1 1.1
60451 / New Lenox / IL / 8.5 mi. 2,355 8,861 26.6 $70,698 4.5 3.1 0.3 0.1 0.4
60432 / Joliet / IL / 4.6 mi. 2,281 5,737 39.8 $34,146 78.3 46.4 30.4 0.2 0.3
60433 / Joliet / IL / 4.3 mi. 1,801 5,738 31.4 $40,837 58.8 15.1 42.2 0.1 0.2
60410 / Channahon / IL / 5.2 mi. 1,607 2,385 67.4 $70,770 5.4 3.7 0.4 0.1 0.3
60447 / Minooka / IL / 9.4 mi. 1,328 2,460 54.0 $63,194 3.8 2.8 0.1 0.1 0.3
60450 / Morris / IL / 16.4 mi. 1,193 7,356 16.2 $51,911 6.8 5.5 0.2 0.2 0.4
60474 / South Wilmington / IL / 22.4 mi. 1,090 305 357.4 $40,288 2.6 2.1 0.0 0.0 0.0
60446 / Romeoville / IL / 6.7 mi. 1,048 6,733 15.6 $60,692 22.2 13.5 4.4 0.2 2.3
60416 / Eileen / IL / 15.4 mi. 782 2,835 27.6 $51,223 3.5 2.4 0.2 0.3 0.1
60481 / Wilmington / IL / 13.8 mi. 676 4,337 15.6 $50,509 3.6 1.9 0.4 0.4 0.2
60442 / Wilton Center / IL / 8.9 mi. 660 2,036 32.4 $62,944 3.6 2.3 0.4 0.1 0.2
60421 / Elwood / IL / 6 mi. 648 1,294 50.1 $60,775 6.0 3.5 1.2 0.3 0.5
60408 / Braidwood / IL / 16.1 mi. 498 1,743 28.6 $55,337 4.1 2.9 0.1 0.1 0.3
60439 / Lemont / IL / 13.3 mi. 273 6,602 4.1 $76,857 4.9 2.9 0.3 0.1 1.0
60440 / Lemont / IL / 13.1 mi. 265 14,503 1.8 $64,244 43.9 14.3 21.1 0.1 5.9
60424 / Gardner / IL / 23.5 mi. 211 901 23.4 $42,689 4.0 2.7 0.1 0.1 0.4
60420 / Dwight / IL / 30.1 mi. 157 1,947 8.1 $40,769 15.3 3.3 11.1 0.2 0.3
60448 / Mokena / IL / 12.3 mi. 150 6,256 2.4 $73,533 5.4 3.0 0.5 0.1 1.1
60407 / Godley / IL / 18.8 mi. 108 564 19.1 $46,058 3.9 3.1 0.1 0.1 0.0
61360 / Stavanger / IL / 25.5 mi. 41 1,071 3.8 $46,731 2.5 1.6 0.2 0.1 0.0
60444 / Mazon / IL / 21.3 mi. 25 570 4.4 $56,923 4.5 2.8 0.2 0.7 0.1
File il_the_herald_news__joliet
Time 5/20/05 9:38 PM
Page 259
Member 102600