Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
The Salem News
Salem, Massachusetts
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 2.9
2004 0.0
2003 0.0
2002 3.2
2001 3.1
2000 0.0
1999 0.0
1998 0.0
1997 0.0
1996 0.0
1995 Did not report
1994 Did not report
1993 Did not report
1992 Did not report
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 Salem News
Year Non-white % of newsroom staff Non-white % of circulation area Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005 2.9 7.5 39
2004 0.0 7.5 0
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 Salem News
This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 39. 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 84 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 Herald & Review, Decatur, Illinois, with a 11.1 percent non-white staff in a community that is 11 percent non-white. Its index is 101.
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of
approximately 31,137 ranks 328 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 Salem News
Circulation area
Race/ethnicity % of population Number of residents
Hispanic 3.8 8,038
Black 1.0 2,117
Asian and Pacific Islander 1.3 2,808
Native-American 0.1 214
Other non-white 0.2 415
Multi-racial 1.0 2,185
  Non-white 7.5 15,777
White 92.5 194,750
Total 210,527
Home county:  Essex
Race/ethnicity % of population Number of residents
Hispanic 11.0 79,871
Black 2.0 14,399
Asian and Pacific Islander 2.3 16,892
Native-American 0.1 964
Other non-white 0.2 1,330
Multi-racial 1.2 8,623
  Non-white 16.9 122,079
White 83.1 601,340
Total 723,419
The home county of this newspaper is Essex.
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 Salem News
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
01915 / Beverly / MA / 0 mi. 7,248 15,750 46.0 $53,984 5.2 1.8 1.0 0.2 1.3
01960 / Peabody / MA / 6.1 mi. 6,954 18,581 37.4 $54,829 7.6 3.4 0.8 0.1 1.4
01970 / Salem / MA / 4.6 mi. 6,908 17,492 39.5 $44,033 17.7 11.2 2.4 0.2 2.0
01923 / Danvers / MA / 4.5 mi. 4,994 9,555 52.3 $58,779 2.8 0.8 0.3 0.1 1.1
01945 / Marblehead / MA / 4.8 mi. 1,129 8,541 13.2 $73,968 3.1 0.9 0.4 0.1 1.0
01938 / Ipswich / MA / 7.8 mi. 955 5,290 18.1 $57,284 3.1 1.0 0.3 0.1 0.8
01949 / Middleton / MA / 8.2 mi. 728 2,305 31.6 $81,395 10.1 6.3 1.4 0.1 1.2
01983 / Topsfield / MA / 6.2 mi. 454 2,099 21.6 $96,430 2.9 0.8 0.4 0.0 0.9
01984 / Wenham / MA / 2.5 mi. 394 1,285 30.7 $90,524 2.7 0.6 0.4 0.0 1.4
01907 / Swampscott / MA / 6.8 mi. 345 5,719 6.0 $71,089 3.4 1.3 0.7 0.1 0.7
01904 / Lynn / MA / 7.5 mi. 260 6,677 3.9 $56,284 11.3 4.9 3.0 0.1 1.9
01902 / Lynn / MA / 7.8 mi. 238 18,418 1.3 $31,751 46.2 23.4 11.8 0.2 6.9
01944 / Manchester / MA / 4.8 mi. 226 2,168 10.4 $73,467 1.7 0.8 0.1 0.1 0.4
01921 / Boxford / MA / 11 mi. 195 2,568 7.6 $113,212 3.2 0.9 0.3 0.1 1.2
01930 / Gloucester / MA / 8.1 mi. 118 12,592 0.9 $47,722 3.8 1.5 0.5 0.1 0.7
01969 / Rowley / MA / 10.7 mi. 113 1,958 5.8 $62,130 2.2 0.9 0.2 0.2 0.5
02114 / Boston / MA / 17.7 mi. 72 6,482 1.1 $55,678 21.3 4.8 6.4 0.2 8.1
01940 / Lynnfield / MA / 9.3 mi. 65 4,186 1.6 $80,626 3.8 0.7 0.4 0.0 1.9
01905 / Lynn / MA / 9.1 mi. 57 8,396 0.7 $37,099 39.9 18.6 8.6 0.2 8.9
01833 / Georgetown / MA / 12.4 mi. 40 2,566 1.6 $76,260 1.9 0.6 0.2 0.1 0.4
01929 / Essex / MA / 5.9 mi. 24 1,313 1.8 $59,554 2.2 0.9 0.1 0.1 0.4
File ma_the_salem_news
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