The Advocate, Baton Rouge... 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 Advocate, Baton Rouge

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

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

8.1

2004

Did not report

2003

7.5

2002

10.0

2001

8.5

2000

9.0

1999

8.7

1998

8.0

1997

6.8

1996

8.8

1995

8.0

1994

Did not report

1993

3.0

1992

2.0

1991

Did not report

1990

2.9

The latest year at peak is

2002

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

Newsroom Diversity Index

for The Advocate, Baton Rouge

Year

Non-white % of newsroom staff

Non-white % of circulation area

Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)

2005

8.1

37.2

2004

N/A

37.0

N/A

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.)

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

Peer group comparison

for The Advocate, Baton Rouge

This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 22.

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 78 out of 90

newspapers reporting in the 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 The Times, Shreveport, Louisiana, with a 31.1 percent non-white staff in a community that is 41.3 percent non-white. Its index is 75.

FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of

approximately 87,026 ranks 121 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 Advocate, Baton Rouge

Circulation area

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

1.8

10,392

Black

32.6

191,148

Asian and Pacific Islander

1.6

9,105

Native-American

0.2

1,302

Other non-white

0.1

499

Multi-racial

0.7

4,342

Non-white

37.0

216,788

White

63.0

369,175

Total

585,963

Home county: East Baton Rouge

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

1.8

7,363

Black

39.9

164,853

Asian and Pacific Islander

2.1

8,643

Native-American

0.2

793

Other non-white

0.1

427

Multi-racial

0.8

3,328

Non-white

44.9

185,407

White

55.1

227,445

Total

412,852

The home county of this newspaper is East Baton Rouge.

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 Advocate, Baton Rouge

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

70808 / Baton Rouge / LA / 3.4 mi.

5,999

13,562

44.2

$47,791

20.5

2.0

13.6

0.2

3.7

70816 / Baton Rouge / LA / 5.5 mi.

5,380

16,124

33.4

$42,220

24.8

3.1

17.6

0.3

2.8

70726 / Port Vincent / LA / 11.5 mi.

4,930

13,088

37.7

$40,754

6.3

1.3

3.6

0.4

0.3

70810 / Baton Rouge / LA / 6.2 mi.

4,724

11,164

42.3

$55,734

37.9

3.4

30.4

0.2

2.8

70817 / Baton Rouge / LA / 8.6 mi.

4,441

9,589

46.3

$66,979

9.5

1.6

5.2

0.3

1.7

70815 / Baton Rouge / LA / 3.6 mi.

4,220

11,294

37.4

$41,277

33.9

1.9

24.8

0.2

6.0

70809 / Baton Rouge / LA / 3.9 mi.

3,919

8,871

44.2

$45,265

14.7

2.1

9.8

0.2

1.8

70806 / Baton Rouge / LA / 0.8 mi.

3,839

12,416

30.9

$29,616

48.1

1.4

44.9

0.2

0.9

70737 / Gonzales / LA / 18 mi.

3,129

10,037

31.2

$44,819

21.2

3.8

16.2

0.3

0.4

70769 / Prairieville / LA / 14.1 mi.

2,844

8,321

34.2

$56,133

10.7

2.1

7.1

0.4

0.5

70791 / Zachary / LA / 12.6 mi.

2,608

6,733

38.7

$45,953

33.1

0.8

31.0

0.3

0.4

70802 / Baton Rouge / LA / 2.5 mi.

2,251

11,828

19.0

$16,985

84.8

1.4

79.3

0.2

2.8

70805 / Baton Rouge / LA / 2.3 mi.

2,222

10,793

20.6

$21,203

90.1

0.9

87.5

0.1

0.9

70714 / Baker / LA / 8.1 mi.

1,854

7,071

26.2

$40,316

47.9

0.8

45.8

0.2

0.3

70767 / Port Allen / LA / 8.5 mi.

1,787

5,018

35.6

$36,351

40.9

1.4

38.3

0.2

70739 / Greenwell Spring / LA / 8.8 mi.

1,593

3,738

42.6

$52,925

6.1

0.9

4.1

0.4

0.3

70818 / Baton Rouge / LA / 7 mi.

1,563

3,600

43.4

$47,876

10.1

0.8

7.9

0.4

70814 / Baton Rouge / LA / 3.6 mi.

1,494

5,138

29.1

$41,021

65.2

1.4

59.6

0.1

3.4

70811 / Zion City / LA / 4.8 mi.

1,449

4,309

33.6

$32,361

73.6

0.6

71.9

0.1

0.4

70785 / Walker / LA / 15.8 mi.

1,352

5,247

25.8

$38,344

6.5

0.9

4.5

0.3

0.1

70807 / Scotlandville / LA / 5.7 mi.

1,266

6,297

20.1

$19,868

95.2

0.7

93.9

0.1

70820 / Baton Rouge / LA / 5.9 mi.

1,127

6,515

17.3

$19,067

37.2

5.0

25.5

0.1

4.6

70346 / Modeste / LA / 24 mi.

1,047

3,687

28.4

$27,708

65.6

1.4

63.4

0.1

70774 / Saint Amant / LA / 21.1 mi.

827

2,660

31.1

$37,681

2.0

0.8

0.4

0.1

0.2

70812 / Baton Rouge / LA / 3.1 mi.

569

3,769

15.1

$27,680

91.9

1.2

89.8

0.1

0.2

70754 / Livingston / LA / 20.4 mi.

549

2,588

21.2

$38,720

3.3

0.8

1.6

0.3

0.1

70819 / Baton Rouge / LA / 6.3 mi.

456

1,755

26.0

$43,750

19.4

3.6

12.0

0.3

2.3

70770 / Pride / LA / 12.7 mi.

438

1,326

33.0

$51,822

3.7

0.7

2.3

0.3

0.0

70719 / Brusly / LA / 8.4 mi.

408

1,329

30.7

$40,800

41.0

2.2

37.8

0.1

70734 / Geismar / LA / 15.8 mi.

365

1,043

35.0

$39,366

39.5

2.0

36.4

0.2

70710 / Addis / LA / 10.3 mi.

296

1,057

28.0

$38,528

22.5

1.2

20.7

0.2

0.1

70449 / Maurepas / LA / 26.5 mi.

224

1,144

19.6

$32,157

7.8

1.6

5.4

0.2

0.1

70462 / Springfield / LA / 31.1 mi.

213

1,715

12.4

$31,148

18.1

0.6

16.7

0.2

0.1

70778 / Sorrento / LA / 23 mi.

207

591

35.0

$36,786

21.6

2.1

18.5

0.3

70744 / Holden / LA / 26.2 mi.

179

1,679

10.7

$32,917

4.3

1.1

2.3

0.2

0.0

70706 / Denham Springs / LA / 15 mi.

136

4,530

3.0

$45,250

7.1

1.0

5.3

0.3

0.1

70711 / Albany / LA / 30 mi.

136

1,395

9.7

$33,103

12.8

1.5

9.5

0.6

0.1

70733 / French Settlemen / LA / 20.4 mi.

123

550

22.4

$39,821

2.0

1.4

0.1

0.0

70729 / Erwinville / LA / 15.8 mi.

102

196.2

$8,056

53.3

1.3

51.3

0.7

0.0

70725 / Darrow / LA / 22.9 mi.

334

13.8

$33,088

79.7

1.3

77.8

0.0

70777 / Slaughter / LA / 14.7 mi.

1,359

1.0

$38,299

28.3

0.8

26.7

0.3

0.2

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