Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
The Town Talk, Alexandria
Alexandria, Louisiana
Owner: Gannett Co. (Va.)
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	7.9
2004	8.1
2003	Did not report
2002	12.1
2001	7.7
2000	4.9
1999	7.3
1998	7.7
1997	6.1
1996	Did not report
1995	2.4
1994	0.0
1993	2.3
1992	0.0
1991	Did not report
1990	Did not report
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 Town Talk, Alexandria
Year	Non-white % of newsroom staff	Non-white % of circulation area	Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005	7.9	32.4	24
2004	8.1	32.4	25
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, Gannett Co. (Va.),
has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 89.
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Peer group comparison
for The Town Talk, Alexandria
This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 24.				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 110 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 Longview News-Journal, Texas, with a 23.1 percent non-white staff in a community that is 28.4 percent non-white. Its index is 81.
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of
approximately 34,040 ranks 300 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 Town Talk, Alexandria
	Circulation area
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	1.8	5,091
Black	28.0	79,983
Asian and Pacific Islander	0.7	1,968
Native-American	0.8	2,302
Other non-white	0.1	302
Multi-racial	1.0	2,863
Non-white	32.4	92,509
White	67.6	193,189
Total		285,698
	Home county:  Rapides
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	1.4	1,739
Black	30.3	38,298
Asian and Pacific Islander	0.9	1,110
Native-American	0.7	892
Other non-white	0.1	91
Multi-racial	0.9	1,148
Non-white	34.3	43,278
White	65.7	83,059
Total		126,337
The home county of this newspaper is Rapides.
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 Town Talk, Alexandria
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
71360 / Pineville / LA / 7.7 mi.	5,941	14,216	41.8	$32,653	16.8	1.3	12.8	0.7	1.0
71301 / Alexandria / LA / 0 mi.	5,587	8,837	63.2	$24,350	56.2	1.2	52.4	0.3	1.2
71303 / Alexandria / LA / 5 mi.	3,301	7,423	44.5	$34,656	31.2	1.3	27.1	0.4	1.6
71302 / Alexandria / LA / 7.2 mi.	1,785	5,526	32.3	$23,389	79.5	0.5	77.8	0.3	0.4
71409 / Boyce / LA / 15.9 mi.	1,142	2,544	44.9	$34,645	23.7	1.5	20.0	0.8	0.2
71342 / Jena / LA / 36.8 mi.	1,094	2,843	38.5	$27,321	17.8	0.8	15.5	0.6	0.2
71446 / Leesville / LA / 39.4 mi.	1,025	8,558	12.0	$29,684	28.3	4.3	17.9	1.5	1.9
71457 / Natchitoches / LA / 53.7 mi.	1,009	9,603	10.5	$25,905	49.5	1.5	45.0	0.8	0.6
71328 / Deville / LA / 16.5 mi.	864	2,312	37.4	$35,833	3.0	0.5	0.5	1.0	0.2
71351 / Marksville / LA / 28.6 mi.	837	4,144	20.2	$23,720	32.9	0.7	28.6	2.3	0.2
71433 / Glenmora / LA / 21 mi.	826	1,582	52.2	$23,587	17.4	1.5	12.8	1.4	0.4
71463 / Oakdale / LA / 33.7 mi.	795	3,498	22.7	$23,460	36.6	8.9	25.3	0.7	0.9
71483 / Winnfield / LA / 43.5 mi.	778	4,188	18.6	$24,116	40.3	0.8	38.2	0.3	0.2
71467 / Pollock / LA / 19.6 mi.	766	1,721	44.5	$32,520	4.0	1.2	0.6	0.8	0.2
71454 / Montgomery / LA / 33.9 mi.	696	977	71.2	$29,875	15.9	1.3	12.0	1.2	0.0
71322 / Bunkie / LA / 28.4 mi.	481	2,721	17.7	$21,596	42.6	1.6	40.2	0.1	0.2
71346 / Lecompte / LA / 10.8 mi.	465	1,186	39.2	$26,420	43.7	1.7	40.6	0.2	0.5
71341 / Hessmer / LA / 24.5 mi.	375	998	37.6	$23,656	6.8	1.2	4.0	1.2	0.0
71343 / Jonesville / LA / 37.3 mi.	357	3,104	11.5	$24,600	25.5	0.9	23.7	0.2	0.1
71430 / Forest Hill / LA / 16 mi.	356	795	44.8	$34,180	22.5	13.0	5.7	1.3	1.5
71417 / Colfax / LA / 19.5 mi.	352	1,926	18.3	$24,290	39.2	0.8	36.8	0.5	0.1
71449 / Many / LA / 61.9 mi.	346	3,696	9.4	$25,006	28.5	1.7	23.4	2.0	0.3
71350 / Mansura / LA / 28.1 mi.	345	1,660	20.8	$24,722	36.6	0.7	34.2	1.0	0.1
71465 / Olla / LA / 43.3 mi.	341	1,183	28.8	$30,259	5.3	1.0	3.4	0.4	0.2
71327 / Cottonport / LA / 29.8 mi.	336	1,547	21.7	$22,831	47.5	0.7	45.8	0.3	0.1
71407 / Bentley / LA / 15.6 mi.	318