The Wichita Eagle... 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

The Wichita Eagle

Wichita, Kansas

Owner: Knight Ridder (Calif.)

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

18.4

2004

16.0

2003

11.7

2002

15.8

2001

12.0

2000

11.6

1999

11.5

1998

9.9

1997

10.0

1996

10.2

1995

10.9

1994

9.4

1993

7.1

1992

6.8

1991

5.6

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 Wichita Eagle

Year

Non-white % of newsroom staff

Non-white % of circulation area

Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)

2005

18.4

18.6

2004

16.0

18.6

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, Knight Ridder (Calif.),

has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 76.

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

Peer group comparison

for The Wichita Eagle

This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 99.

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 11 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 87,063 ranks 120 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 Wichita Eagle

Circulation area

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

6.6

43,709

Black

6.6

43,559

Asian and Pacific Islander

2.5

16,491

Native-American

1.0

6,307

Other non-white

0.1

709

Multi-racial

1.9

12,408

Non-white

18.6

123,183

White

81.4

540,665

Total

663,848

Home county: Sedgwick

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

8.0

36,397

Black

9.0

40,748

Asian and Pacific Islander

3.4

15,250

Native-American

1.0

4,480

Other non-white

0.1

612

Multi-racial

2.1

9,457

Non-white

23.6

106,944

White

76.4

345,925

Total

452,869

The home county of this newspaper is Sedgwick.

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 Wichita Eagle

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

67212 / Wichita / KS / 6.3 mi.

6,583

17,633

37.3

$52,022

12.3

4.9

2.4

0.9

2.4

67203 / Wichita / KS / 2.4 mi.

4,259

13,545

31.4

$34,345

26.8

17.0

5.6

1.0

1.1

67218 / Wichita / KS / 3.2 mi.

3,311

10,705

30.9

$32,153

29.2

10.9

1.0

3.7

67217 / Wichita / KS / 5.2 mi.

3,306

11,715

28.2

$39,874

18.3

6.3

4.2

1.5

3.6

67206 / Wichita / KS / 6.1 mi.

3,231

5,573

58.0

$64,258

12.7

2.6

3.8

0.5

4.1

67037 / Derby / KS / 10.6 mi.

3,097

7,835

39.5

$60,066

7.3

2.8

1.2

0.7

1.1

67207 / Wichita / KS / 6 mi.

3,036

10,080

30.1

$43,251

28.4

5.2

10.9

0.8

8.3

67204 / Wichita / KS / 6.3 mi.

2,932

7,916

37.0

$41,181

29.6

22.3

3.3

0.8

1.9

67208 / Wichita / KS / 3.2 mi.

2,691

8,227

32.7

$34,291

42.2

4.0

29.0

0.6

5.5

67226 / Wichita / KS / 8.3 mi.

2,598

5,786

44.9

$67,206

18.4

3.2

6.3

0.5

6.5

67213 / Wichita / KS / 2.2 mi.

2,502

9,071

27.6

$28,541

22.9

12.0

5.0

1.8

1.6

67216 / Wichita / KS / 5.6 mi.

2,407

9,622

25.0

$36,691

27.2

8.0

1.8

6.0

67211 / Wichita / KS / 1.6 mi.

2,347

9,149

25.7

$29,794

29.5

13.5

8.3

1.6

3.5

67209 / Wichita / KS / 5.7 mi.

2,058

4,693

43.9

$56,033

12.3

4.9

1.9

0.9

2.7

67114 / Newton / KS / 22.3 mi.

1,859

8,086

23.0

$39,974

15.5

11.1

1.9

0.4

0.6

67042 / El Dorado / KS / 34.1 mi.

1,789

6,489

27.6

$35,213

9.5

3.0

3.7

1.0

0.3

67010 / Augusta / KS / 21.9 mi.

1,733

4,900

35.4

$46,259

5.5

2.4

0.3

0.9

0.3

67214 / Wichita / KS / 1.7 mi.

1,500

6,829

22.0

$21,119

82.1

18.8

54.9

0.7

4.7

67205 / Wichita / KS / 7.5 mi.

1,467

2,737

53.6

$75,070

8.0

2.6

0.7

0.8

2.7

67220 / Wichita / KS / 6.6 mi.

1,371

4,476

30.6

$50,972

39.0

3.4

27.1

0.4

5.7

67230 / Wichita / KS / 10.9 mi.

1,314

2,128

61.7

$93,593

7.7

1.4

1.5

0.6

2.9

67219 / Wichita / KS / 6.1 mi.

1,137

3,712

30.6

$34,594

44.2

7.9

32.4

1.2

0.9

67110 / Mulvane / KS / 18.5 mi.

1,120

2,843

39.4

$48,949

5.5

2.4

0.2

1.0

0.3

67002 / Andover / KS / 13.6 mi.

1,107

3,212

34.5

$58,351

6.1

2.1

0.6

0.8

1.0

67147 / Valley Center / KS / 11.8 mi.

1,008

2,858

35.3

$52,650

4.7

1.8

0.6

0.7