Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
The Moline Dispatch and The Rock Island Argus
Moline, Illinois
Owner: Small Newspapers (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	7.8
2004	3.9
2003	5.7
2002	3.8
2001	5.6
2000	5.8
1999	7.4
1998	2.0
1997	1.9
1996	0.0
1995	0.0
1994	0.0
1993	0.0
1992	0.0
1991	1.8
1990	Did not report
The latest year at peak is	2005
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Newsroom Diversity Index
for The Moline Dispatch and The Rock Island Argus
Year	Non-white % of newsroom staff	Non-white % of circulation area	Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005	7.8	14.2	55
2004	3.9	14.2	28
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, Small Newspapers (Ill.),
has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 38.
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Peer group comparison
for The Moline Dispatch and The Rock Island Argus
This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 55.				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 49 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 Herald & Review, Decatur, Illinois, with a 11.1 percent non-white staff in a community that is 11 percent non-white. Its index is 101.
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of
approximately 44,597 ranks 237 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 Moline Dispatch and The Rock Island Argus
	Circulation area
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	6.6	13,647
Black	5.5	11,256
Asian and Pacific Islander	0.8	1,643
Native-American	0.2	340
Other non-white	0.1	124
Multi-racial	1.0	2,139
Non-white	14.2	29,149
White	85.8	176,459
Total		205,608
	Home county:  Rock Island
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	8.6	12,791
Black	7.4	11,099
Asian and Pacific Islander	1.0	1,533
Native-American	0.2	288
Other non-white	0.1	109
Multi-racial	1.2	1,849
Non-white	18.5	27,669
White	81.5	121,705
Total		149,374
The home county of this newspaper is Rock Island.
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 Moline Dispatch and The Rock Island Argus
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
61265 / Quad City Airpor / IL / 0 mi.	10,830	19,605	55.2	$39,754	17.3	11.6	2.9	0.1	1.4
61201 / Rock Island / IL / 3.7 mi.	7,784	15,985	48.7	$34,362	25.9	5.9	17.3	0.2	0.7
61244 / Whites Addition / IL / 3.8 mi.	4,776	9,321	51.2	$36,025	24.4	13.9	6.6	0.3	2.1
61254 / Hanna / IL / 16.1 mi.	2,451	4,356	56.3	$48,715	2.3	1.2	0.3	0.1	0.3
61264 / Oak Grove / IL / 5.8 mi.	2,272	4,651	48.8	$40,353	12.7	3.1	8.6	0.2	0.2
61282 / Silvis / IL / 3.8 mi.	1,605	3,671	43.7	$35,082	18.6	13.0	3.6	0.2	0.7
61241 / Green Rock / IL / 8 mi.	1,275	2,623	48.6	$43,474	5.1	3.7	0.2	0.1	0.2
61240 / Coal Valley / IL / 3.9 mi.	1,237	2,174	56.9	$52,881	4.6	2.6	1.0	0.1	0.4
61231 / Wanlock / IL / 22.4 mi.	1,030	2,374	43.4	$36,518	2.2	0.8	0.4	0.1	0.3
61275 / Port Byron / IL / 10.9 mi.	721	1,771	40.7	$52,713	3.5	2.0	0.3	0.3	0.2
61273 / Western / IL / 10.2 mi.	704	1,213	58.0	$52,478	2.0	1.3	0.2	0.0	0.2
61281 / Sherrard / IL / 11.5 mi.	610	969	63.0	$59,302	3.0	1.7	0.3	0.3	0.2
52722 / Riverdale / IA / 4.1 mi.	574	13,377	4.3	$54,786	6.3	2.4	1.5	0.2	1.4
61284 / Taylor Ridge / IL / 13.4 mi.	571	1,274	44.8	$62,882	2.9	1.4	0.6	0.1	0.3
61238 / Weller / IL / 18.9 mi.	453	1,311	34.6	$40,323	1.9	0.5	0.5	0.2	0.2
61250 / Erie / IL / 22.4 mi.	402	1,059	38.0	$45,219	1.7	0.9	0.1	0.1	0.1
61256 / Hampton / IL / 5.9 mi.	352	576	61.1	$50,865	5.8	4.3	0.3	0.9	0.1
52806 / Davenport / IA / 7.5 mi.	301	9,957	3.0	$42,225	16.9	4.0	8.9	0.2	1.9
61257 / Hillsdale / IL / 15.7 mi.	263	500	52.6	$46,574	5.5	2.4	1.1	0.5	0.7
61277 / Wethersfield / IL / 29.6 mi.	256	1,357	18.9	$38,077	2.9	1.5	0.5	0.2	0.1
52803 / Davenport / IA / 4.3 mi.	248	9,724	2.6	$36,174	22.9	5.4	13.6	0.3	1.5
61486 / Viola / IL / 19 mi.	247	616	40.1	$40,000	4.4	3.2	0.3	0.0	0.1
61235 / Cornwall / IL / 23.6 mi.	235	597	39.4	$41,188	1.9	0.8	0.3	0.0	0.1
61279 / Reynolds / IL / 14 mi.	221	399	55.4	$43,466	1.4	1.1	0.0	0.0	0.0
61239 / Carbon Cliff / IL / 5 mi.	215	117	183.8	$40,536	3