Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
Detroit Free Press
Detroit, Michigan
Owner: Knight Ridder (Calif.)
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	29.2
2004	28.7
2003	28.4
2002	23.0
2001	24.0
2000	25.3
1999	22.3
1998	16.3
1997	16.2
1996	15.7
1995	Did not report
1994	20.4
1993	21.0
1992	21.2
1991	21.0
1990	18.0
The latest year at peak is	2005
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Newsroom Diversity Index
for Detroit Free Press
Year	Non-white % of newsroom staff	Non-white % of circulation area	Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005	29.2	28.1	104
2004	28.7	30.3	95
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, Knight Ridder (Calif.),
has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 76.
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Peer group comparison
for Detroit Free Press
This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 104.				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 3 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 348,838 ranks 21 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 Detroit Free Press
	Circulation area
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	2.6	94,422
Black	22.7	829,961
Asian and Pacific Islander	2.6	96,053
Native-American	0.3	11,970
Other non-white	0.1	4,956
Multi-racial	1.9	70,751
Non-white	30.3	1,108,113
White	69.7	2,549,101
Total		3,657,214
	Home county:  Wayne
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	3.8	77,207
Black	42.0	864,627
Asian and Pacific Islander	1.7	35,235
Native-American	0.3	6,582
Other non-white	0.2	3,191
Multi-racial	2.2	45,336
Non-white	50.1	1,032,178
White	49.9	1,028,984
Total		2,061,162
The home county of this newspaper is Wayne.
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
Detroit Free Press
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
48236 / Grosse Pointe Woods / MI / 9.3 mi.	4,705	12,149	38.7	$82,567	6.3	1.1	2.3	0.1	2.0
48170 / Plymouth / MI / 22.5 mi.	4,477	16,152	27.7	$67,360	7.4	1.5	2.2	0.3	2.2
48312 / Sterling Heights / MI / 14.6 mi.	4,420	12,913	34.2	$54,097	8.5	1.2	1.7	0.2	4.1
48167 / Northville Township / MI / 20.8 mi.	4,293	14,349	29.9	$79,579	9.6	1.7	3.0	0.2	3.5
48154 / Livonia / MI / 16.1 mi.	4,211	14,717	28.6	$69,071	4.9	1.6	0.7	0.2	1.5
48071 / Madison Heights / MI / 11.3 mi.	4,128	13,299	31.0	$42,326	11.5	1.6	1.8	0.4	5.0
48124 / Dearborn / MI / 9.9 mi.	3,956	14,201	27.9	$55,632	6.7	2.9	1.0	0.3	1.3
48073 / Royal Oak / MI / 13.2 mi.	3,929	16,625	23.6	$52,384	6.6	1.2	1.8	0.2	2.0
48322 / West Bloomfield / MI / 20.9 mi.	3,817	11,217	34.0	$87,740	21.0	1.4	6.5	0.1	9.9
48185 / Westland / MI / 16.5 mi.	3,811	22,520	16.9	$43,925	15.1	2.5	6.2	0.4	3.9
48183 / Woodhaven / MI / 14.9 mi.	3,696	16,028	23.1	$55,045	7.5	2.8	1.5	0.4	1.5
48180 / Taylor / MI / 12.3 mi.	3,686	24,776	14.9	$42,944	16.0	3.2	8.7	0.6	1.6
48127 / Dearborn Heights / MI / 11 mi.	3,574	14,400	24.8	$49,689	12.1	3.0	2.7	0.2	2.9
48187 / Canton Township / MI / 20.3 mi.	3,559	16,337	21.8	$71,694	16.7	2.2	3.9	0.2	8.5
48150 / Livonia / MI / 15.3 mi.	3,462	11,003	31.5	$59,015	5.3	1.9	0.7	0.3	1.3
48152 / Livonia / MI / 16.4 mi.	3,457	12,454	27.8	$62,103	7.6	1.8	1.4	0.2	3.0
48192 / Wyandotte / MI / 11.3 mi.	3,416	18,410	18.6	$45,525	7.8	2.8	1.8	0.4	1.5
48034 / Southfield / MI / 14.6 mi.	3,410	15,478	22.0	$47,914	61.7	1.4	52.3	0.2	4.2
48038 / Clinton Township / MI / 17.9 mi.	3,118	17,209	18.1	$53,352	6.4	2.0	1.4	0.2	1.6
48239 / Redford Township / MI / 11.5 mi.	3,104	14,878	20.9	$49,556	20.1	2.4	14.5	0.3	1.2
48009 / Birmingham / MI / 15.7 mi.	3,026	9,113	33.2	$80,555	4.7	1.2	0.9	0.1	1.5
48101 / Allen Park / MI / 9.2 mi.	2,947	12,064	24.4	$51,805	7.5	4.7	0.7	0.3	0.8
48126 / Dearborn / MI / 6.8 mi.	2,923	15,587	18.8	$31,159	21.7	3.2	1.4	0.2	1.4
48066 / Roseville / MI / 12.3 mi.	2,877	20,428	14.1	$41,171	7.5	1.5	2.6	0.4	1.6
48093 / Warren / MI / 11.9 mi.	2,850	19,747	14.4	$49,925	6.2	1.1	1.5	0.2