The Boston Globe... 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 Boston Globe

Boston, Massachusetts

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

20.0

2004

19.2

2003

19.0

2002

18.3

2001

16.7

2000

18.2

1999

17.9

1998

18.0

1997

18.3

1996

17.8

1995

17.4

1994

17.2

1993

15.0

1992

15.8

1991

13.6

1990

13.9

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 Boston Globe

Year

Non-white % of newsroom staff

Non-white % of circulation area

Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)

2005

20.0

16.9

119

2004

19.2

17.4

110

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 The Boston Globe

This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 119.

This paper

Peer group

Compare that with 70, which is the median Diversity Index for all newspapers

reporting in this circulation category of 250,001 to 500,000 daily sales.

In that group, this newspaper's Diversity Index ranks 1 out of 24

newspapers reporting in the category of 250,001 to 500,000 daily sales.

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

approximately 451,471 ranks 13 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 Boston Globe

Circulation area

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

4.9

205,021

Black

5.6

232,878

Asian and Pacific Islander

4.3

181,729

Native-American

0.2

6,725

Other non-white

0.7

29,687

Multi-racial

1.7

72,058

Non-white

17.4

728,098

White

82.6

3,460,359

Total

4,188,457

Home county: Suffolk

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

15.5

107,031

Black

20.9

143,817

Asian and Pacific Islander

7.0

48,284

Native-American

0.3

1,710

Other non-white

1.3

8,780

Multi-racial

3.0

20,650

Non-white

47.9

330,272

White

52.1

359,535

Total

689,807

The home county of this newspaper is Suffolk.

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 Boston Globe

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

02155 / West Medford / MA / 4.8 mi.

5,409

22,119

24.5

$52,512

15.1

2.6

6.0

0.1

4.0

02138 / Cambridge / MA / 3.6 mi.

5,183

14,182

36.5

$55,726

26.5

5.6

6.1

0.2

11.6

01701 / Saxonville / MA / 18 mi.

4,578

12,182

37.6

$70,613

13.0

2.8

2.5

0.1

5.6

02116 / Boston / MA / 0.8 mi.

4,375

11,054

39.6

$60,467

29.0

4.5

7.4

0.2

15.0

02125 / Uphams Corner / MA / 2.7 mi.

4,206

11,404

36.9

$35,513

69.3

16.3

28.8

0.4

11.1

02132 / West Roxbury / MA / 6.9 mi.

4,197

10,190

41.2

$57,179

11.4

3.5

2.1

0.2

4.1

01810 / Andover / MA / 19.5 mi.

4,147

11,305

36.7

$87,683

9.4

1.8

0.7

0.0

5.7

02115 / Boston / MA / 2 mi.

4,115

10,365

39.7

$28,244

33.8

9.0

9.5

0.3

12.0

02478 / Belmont / MA / 6.4 mi.

3,984

9,714

41.0

$80,300

10.2

1.8

1.1

0.1

5.7

02492 / Needham Junction / MA / 10.2 mi.

3,968

7,167

55.4

$93,342

5.5

1.1

0.6

0.0

3.1

01801 / Woburn / MA / 9.4 mi.

3,865

14,997

25.8

$54,897

11.0

3.1

1.7

0.1

4.9

01760 / South Natick / MA / 14.7 mi.

3,835

12,953

29.6

$69,832

9.1

2.0

1.6

0.1

3.8

01960 / West Peabody / MA / 12.2 mi.

3,816

18,581

20.5

$54,829

7.6

3.4

0.8

0.1

1.4

02130 / Jamaica Plain / MA / 3.7 mi.

3,747

14,678

25.5

$46,592

47.1

24.9

13.9

0.2

5.1

02474 / East Arlington / MA / 6.2 mi.

3,702

11,372

32.6

$62,846

10.4

1.9

1.7

0.1

4.9

02186 / Milton / MA / 6.8 mi.

3,673

8,982

40.9

$78,985

15.6

1.7

10.0

0.1

2.1

02176 / Melrose / MA / 6.6 mi.

3,649

10,982

33.2

$62,811

5.5

1.0

0.9

0.1

2.0

02472 / Watertown / MA / 5.8 mi.

3,552

14,629

24.3

$59,764

10.3

2.7

1.7

0.1

3.9

01890 / Winchester / MA / 7.4 mi.

3,544

7,715

45.9

$94,049

7.6

1.0

0.7

0.1

4.6

02446 / Brookline / MA / 3 mi.

3,496

14,239

24.6

$62,817

22.8

3.7

2.3

0.1

14.6

02459 / Newton Center / MA / 7 mi.

3,457

6,126

56.4

$99,076

13.7

2.4

2.2

0.0

7.5

02148 / Oak Grove / MA / 4.8 mi.

3,429

23,009

14.9

$45,654

30.4

4.8

7.9

0.1

14.0

02090 / Westwood / MA / 11.5 mi.

3,402

5,110

66.6

$87,638

4.6

0.9

0.5

0.0

2.5

01867 / Reading / MA / 11.4 mi.

3,388

8,688

39.0

$77,059

4.2

0.8

0.3

0.1

2.2

02062 / Norwood / MA / 12.9 mi.

3,385

11,623

29.1

$58,421

10.4

1.7

2.3

0.1

5.1