Sun Journal, Lewiston... 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

Sun Journal, Lewiston

Lewiston, Maine

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

Did not report

2004

Did not report

2003

Did not report

2002

2.2

2001

2.6

2000

2.5

1999

2.3

1998

2.3

1997

Did not report

1996

Did not report

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

2001

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

Newsroom Diversity Index

for Sun Journal, Lewiston

Year

Non-white % of newsroom staff

Non-white % of circulation area

Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)

2005

N/A

2.9

N/A

2004

N/A

2.9

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 Sun Journal, Lewiston

This paper

Peer group

The median Diversity Index is 44 for all newspapers

reporting in this circulation 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 La Crosse Tribune, Wisconsin, with a 5.3 percent non-white staff in a community that is 4.9 percent non-white. Its index is 107.

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

approximately 34,035 ranks 301 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 Sun Journal, Lewiston

Circulation area

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

0.8

1,454

Black

0.4

819

Asian and Pacific Islander

0.5

959

Native-American

0.3

542

Other non-white

0.1

Multi-racial

0.9

1,810

Non-white

2.9

5,672

White

97.1

187,313

Total

192,985

Home county: Androscoggin

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

1.0

988

Black

0.6

647

Asian and Pacific Islander

0.6

604

Native-American

0.3

281

Other non-white

0.1

Multi-racial

1.1

1,166

Non-white

3.6

3,734

White

96.4

100,059

Total

103,793

The home county of this newspaper is Androscoggin.

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

Sun Journal, Lewiston

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

04240 / Lewiston / ME / 0 mi.

8,414

15,290

55.0

$29,191

5.0

1.3

1.0

0.3

0.9

04210 / Auburn / ME / 4.6 mi.

5,334

9,772

54.6

$35,634

3.5

0.7

0.6

0.3

0.6

04276 / Rumford / ME / 39.1 mi.

1,396

2,982

46.8

$27,701

1.8

0.6

0.1

0.3

0.2

04938 / Farmington / ME / 39.4 mi.

907

3,536

25.7

$27,981

2.8

0.8

0.2

0.7

04281 / South Paris / ME / 17.8 mi.

836

1,976

42.3

$33,625

2.4

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.9

04280 / Sabattus / ME / 5.8 mi.

820

2,176

37.7

$42,345

2.3

0.4

0.2

0.3

0.4

04239 / Jay / ME / 30.5 mi.

816

1,957

41.7

$36,806

2.4

0.5

0.2

0.5

0.3

04282 / Turner / ME / 12.2 mi.

788

1,759

44.8

$46,056

4.0

2.8

0.1

0.2

0.3

04268 / Norway / ME / 23.6 mi.

787

1,972

39.9

$28,497

2.5

0.5

0.3

0.4

04270 / Oxford / ME / 18.5 mi.

773

2,081

37.1

$38,039

2.4

0.5

0.3

04252 / Lisbon Falls / ME / 6.9 mi.

712

1,926

37.0

$39,559

3.4

0.9

0.6

0.2

0.4

04257 / Mexico / ME / 37.6 mi.

652

1,262

51.7

$28,036

2.3

0.3

0.2

0.0

0.9

04236 / Greene / ME / 7.1 mi.

651

1,502

43.3

$47,945

2.1

0.7

0.5

0.1

0.3

04250 / Lisbon / ME / 5.1 mi.

647

1,683

38.4

$35,746

2.7

0.5

0.6

0.2

0.6

04274 / Poland / ME / 11.9 mi.

621

1,838

33.8

$47,940

1.7

0.3

0.1

0.2

04254 / Livermore Falls / ME / 22.1 mi.

527

1,044

50.5

$27,868

3.7

1.0

0.5

0.8

0.2

04294 / Wilton / ME / 35.2 mi.

525

1,793

29.3

$34,318

3.0

0.4

0.5

0.4

0.8

04224 / Dixfield / ME / 35.8 mi.

511

1,228

41.6

$35,645

2.2

0.7

0.1

0.3

0.5

04256 / Mechanic Falls / ME / 9.8 mi.

509

1,163

43.8

$34,864

3.0

0.5

0.4

0.6

04217 / Bethel / ME / 38.7 mi.

468

1,333

35.1

$33,521

2.7

0.8

0.1

0.5

04258 / Minot / ME / 7.6 mi.

342

794

43.1

$47,557

1.8

0.4

0.1

0.4

04220 / Buckfield / ME / 16.7 mi.

314

774

40.6

$36,483

2.1

0.4

0.0

0.4

0.3

04263 / Leeds / ME / 14.1 mi.

297

727

40.9

$37,986

1.3

0.5

0.2

0.3

0.1

04290 / Peru / ME / 30 mi.

295

514

57.4

$38,527

1.0

0.4

0.0

0.2

04259 / Monmouth / ME / 11.1 mi.

291

1,103

26.4

$45,430

2.0

0.8

0.2

0.4

0.1

04253 / Livermore / ME / 20.7 mi.

289

850

34.0

$39,200

1.2

0.3

0.1

0.0

04260 / New Gloucester / ME / 10.9 mi.

273

1,761

15.5