Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
The Topeka Capital-Journal
Topeka, Kansas
Owner: Morris Communications (Ga.)
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	1.9
2003	7.1
2002	5.8
2001	1.8
2000	2.9
1999	3.8
1998	6.0
1997	7.3
1996	5.0
1995	Did not report
1994	3.4
1993	3.0
1992	6.0
1991	2.9
1990	2.9
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 Topeka Capital-Journal
Year	Non-white % of newsroom staff	Non-white % of circulation area	Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005	N/A	13.7	N/A
2004	1.9	13.4	14
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, Morris Communications (Ga.),
has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 21.
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Peer group comparison
for The Topeka Capital-Journal
		This paper
						Peer group
The median Diversity Index is 50 for all newspapers
reporting in this circulation category of 50,001 to 100,000 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 Lincoln Journal Star, Nebraska, with a 9.9 percent non-white staff in a community that is 8.3 percent non-white. Its index is 119.
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of
approximately 50,754 ranks 202 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 Topeka Capital-Journal
	Circulation area
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	4.7	14,522
Black	5.1	15,859
Asian and Pacific Islander	0.7	2,295
Native-American	1.3	3,993
Other non-white	0.1	234
Multi-racial	1.6	4,808
Non-white	13.4	41,711
White	86.6	269,459
Total		311,170
	Home county:  Shawnee
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	7.3	12,330
Black	8.8	14,917
Asian and Pacific Islander	1.0	1,628
Native-American	1.0	1,750
Other non-white	0.1	175
Multi-racial	2.0	3,319
Non-white	20.1	34,119
White	79.9	135,752
Total		169,871
The home county of this newspaper is Shawnee.
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 Topeka Capital-Journal
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
66614 / Topeka / KS / 6.3 mi.	6,621	12,893	51.4	$48,016	13.8	4.1	5.3	0.6	2.1
66604 / Topeka / KS / 4.2 mi.	5,086	10,375	49.0	$37,057	19.6	5.8	9.9	0.9	0.9
66605 / Topeka / KS / 1.8 mi.	3,547	7,250	48.9	$38,151	34.3	9.9	19.3	1.4	0.6
66611 / Topeka / KS / 3.1 mi.	2,269	4,701	48.3	$40,983	17.2	4.5	8.1	0.8	1.4
66606 / Topeka / KS / 3.8 mi.	2,259	5,587	40.4	$34,454	15.8	5.5	6.7	0.8	0.8
66618 / Topeka / KS / 7.4 mi.	1,936	2,716	71.3	$60,354	7.0	2.9	1.9	0.6	0.4
66617 / Topeka / KS / 5.8 mi.	1,850	3,002	61.6	$59,769	5.5	2.8	0.6	0.7	0.3
66610 / Topeka / KS / 8.6 mi.	1,624	2,374	68.4	$73,848	9.0	2.6	2.9	0.5	1.9
66502 / Manhattan / KS / 48.8 mi.	1,277	15,916	8.0	$27,874	14.6	3.7	4.7	0.4	3.6
66609 / Topeka / KS / 3.3 mi.	1,222	2,934	41.6	$39,413	19.0	6.9	8.6	0.7	1.1
66608 / Topeka / KS / 2.6 mi.	1,201	2,418	49.7	$28,459	13.6	5.0	3.4	2.1	0.4
66607 / Topeka / KS / 0 mi.	1,052	3,346	31.4	$25,282	57.7	25.4	27.3	1.9	0.2
66616 / Topeka / KS / 1.5 mi.	1,007	2,578	39.1	$32,767	30.1	24.8	1.5	1.7	0.2
66436 / Holton / KS / 27.8 mi.	945	2,201	42.9	$38,247	6.4	1.5	0.7	2.2	0.2
66542 / Tecumseh / KS / 4.8 mi.	804	1,043	77.1	$59,211	6.9	3.3	1.5	0.8	0.2
66612 / Topeka / KS / 1.7 mi.	706	1,582	44.6	$16,114	46.3	11.6	27.0	2.6	1.3
66409 / Berryton / KS / 8 mi.	624	1,006	62.0	$62,188	4.8	2.1	1.3	0.4	0.3
66801 / Emporia / KS / 48.9 mi.	594	11,586	5.1	$32,079	26.2	19.5	2.5	0.4	2.3
66615 / Topeka / KS / 10.5 mi.	527	573	92.0	$53,162	16.1	3.5	9.7	0.8	0.3
66523 / Osage City / KS / 28 mi.	509	1,609	31.6	$35,636	4.7	2.1	0.3	0.8	0.3
66539 / Silver Lake / KS / 12.8 mi.	499	941	53.0	$53,542	4.3	1.8	0.3	0.8	0.3
66402 / Auburn / KS / 12.6 mi.	494	930	53.1	$48,611	5.5	2.8	0.3	0.6	0.4
66547 / Wamego / KS / 35.4 mi.	491	2,424	20.3	$45,192	4.4	1.9	0.7	0.4	0.2
66512 / Meriden / KS / 10.2 mi.	486	1,139	42.7	$47,925	3.4	1.2	0.3	0.7	0.1
66603 / Topeka / KS / 1.9 mi.	426	909	46.9	$15,723	41.6	14.7	17.7	4.4	0.4
66534 / Sabetha / KS / 56 mi.	424	1,298	32.7	$38,799	2.4