Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists | ||||||||||
at America's daily newspapers | ||||||||||
with the communities that they serve | ||||||||||
Newsroom diversity report for | ||||||||||
Daily Comet, Thibodaux | ||||||||||
Thibodaux, Louisiana | ||||||||||
Owner: New York Times Co. | ||||||||||
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 | 9.1 | |||||||||
2004 | 9.1 | |||||||||
2003 | 10.0 | |||||||||
2002 | 9.1 | |||||||||
2001 | 0.0 | |||||||||
2000 | 0.0 | |||||||||
1999 | 11.1 | |||||||||
1998 | 12.5 | |||||||||
1997 | 0.0 | |||||||||
1996 | 0.0 | |||||||||
1995 | 11.1 | |||||||||
1994 | 0.0 | |||||||||
1993 | 11.1 | |||||||||
1992 | 12.5 | |||||||||
1991 | 25.0 | |||||||||
1990 | Did not report | |||||||||
The latest year at peak is | 1991 | |||||||||
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures. | ||||||||||
Newsroom Diversity Index | ||||||||||
for Daily Comet, Thibodaux | ||||||||||
Year | Non-white % of newsroom staff | Non-white % of circulation area | Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100) | |||||||
2005 | 9.1 | 23.9 | 38 | |||||||
2004 | 9.1 | 23.9 | 38 | |||||||
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, New York Times Co., | ||||||||||
has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 69. | ||||||||||
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures. | ||||||||||
Peer group comparison | ||||||||||
for Daily Comet, Thibodaux | ||||||||||
This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 38. | This paper | |||||||||
Peer group | ||||||||||
Compare that with 33, which is the median Diversity Index for all newspapers | ||||||||||
reporting in this circulation category of 10,001 to 25,000 daily sales. | ||||||||||
In that group, this newspaper's Diversity Index ranks 117 out of 259 | ||||||||||
newspapers reporting in the category of 10,001 to 25,000 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 Enterprise Ledger, Alabama, with a 16.7 percent non-white staff in a community that is 24.4 percent non-white. Its index is 68. | ||||||||||
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of | ||||||||||
approximately 11,134 ranks 734 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 Daily Comet, Thibodaux | ||||||||||
Circulation area | ||||||||||
Race/ethnicity | % of population | Number of residents |
|
|||||||
Hispanic | 1.3 | 1,362 | ||||||||
Black | 19.7 | 21,256 | ||||||||
Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.6 | 638 | ||||||||
Native-American | 1.5 | 1,649 | ||||||||
Other non-white | 0.1 | 54 | ||||||||
Multi-racial | 0.8 | 809 | ||||||||
Non-white | 23.9 | 25,768 | ||||||||
White | 76.1 | 82,078 | ||||||||
Total | 107,846 | |||||||||
Home county: Lafourche | ||||||||||
Race/ethnicity | % of population | Number of residents |
|
|||||||
Hispanic | 1.4 | 1,284 | ||||||||
Black | 12.5 | 11,287 | ||||||||
Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.7 | 612 | ||||||||
Native-American | 2.3 | 2,020 | ||||||||
Other non-white | 0.1 | 44 | ||||||||
Multi-racial | 0.9 | 790 | ||||||||
Non-white | 17.8 | 16,037 | ||||||||
White | 82.2 | 73,937 | ||||||||
Total | 89,974 | |||||||||
The home county of this newspaper is Lafourche. | ||||||||||
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 | ||||||||||
Daily Comet, Thibodaux | ||||||||||
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 |
|
70301 / Thibodaux / LA / 0 mi. | 5,671 | 14,370 | 39.5 | $33,540 | 24.4 | 1.0 | 21.7 | 0.5 | 0.6 | |
70374 / Lockport / LA / 22.5 mi. | 1,164 | 3,580 | 32.5 | $38,082 | 8.4 | 1.6 | 2.7 | 2.6 | 0.6 | |
70394 / Raceland / LA / 13.5 mi. | 732 | 4,936 | 14.8 | $35,000 | 22.8 | 1.3 | 19.6 | 0.9 | 0.3 | |
70372 / Labadieville / LA / 13.8 mi. | 575 | 986 | 58.3 | $34,511 | 28.8 | 0.9 | 27.3 | 0.2 | 0.1 | |
70345 / Cut Off / LA / 32.7 mi. | 516 | 4,552 | 11.3 | $38,374 | 13.1 | 2.6 | 3.8 | 3.7 | 1.8 | |
70375 / Mathews / LA / 14.6 mi. | 479 | 33 | 1451.5 | $41,667 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | |
70395 / Schriever / LA / 11.5 mi. | 462 | 1,440 | 32.1 | $41,467 | 19.5 | 1.2 | 15.4 | 1.4 | 0.5 | |
70354 / Galliano / LA / 38.7 mi. | 444 | 1,717 | 25.9 | $27,401 | 8.1 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 4.7 | 0.6 | |
70090 / Vacherie / LA / 10.3 mi. | 402 | 2,438 | 16.5 | $33,886 | 55.0 | 0.5 | 54.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | |
70357 / Golden Meadow / LA / 46.2 mi. | 378 | 1,205 | 31.4 | $25,486 | 13.0 | 1.2 | 0.7 | 9.0 | 0.2 | |
70390 / Napoleonville / LA / 18.8 mi. | 373 | 2,543 | 14.7 | $27,547 | 50.2 | 1.0 | 48.5 | 0.1 | 0.1 | |
70355 / Gheens / LA / 17.3 mi. | 106 | 339 | 31.3 | $35,395 | 5.8 | 2.0 | 2.8 | 0.2 | 0.2 | |
70030 / Des Allemands / LA / 21.5 mi. | 79 | 1,507 | 5.2 | $39,464 | 9.0 | 2.1 | 5.3 | 0.3 | 0.1 | |
70364 / Houma / LA / 12.9 mi. | 27 | 10,183 | 0.3 | $36,310 | 15.8 | 2.1 | 9.4 | 2.6 | 0.5 | |
File | la_daily_comet__thibodaux | |||||||||
Time | 5/20/05 1:01 AM | |||||||||
Page | 733 | |||||||||
Member | 118490 |