Lansing State Journal... 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

Lansing State Journal

Lansing, Michigan

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

16.9

2004

14.5

2003

13.4

2002

15.9

2001

16.1

2000

15.4

1999

15.9

1998

13.3

1997

15.5

1996

14.1

1995

15.9

1994

13.6

1993

11.1

1992

7.9

1991

13.1

1990

10.8

The latest year at peak is

2005

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

Newsroom Diversity Index

for Lansing State Journal

Year

Non-white % of newsroom staff

Non-white % of circulation area

Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)

2005

16.9

16.7

102

2004

14.5

16.7

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 Lansing State Journal

This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 102.

This paper

Peer group

Compare that with 50, which is the median Diversity Index for all newspapers

reporting in this circulation category of 50,001 to 100,000 daily sales.

In that group, this newspaper's Diversity Index ranks 10 out of 90

newspapers reporting in the category of 50,001 to 100,000 daily sales.

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

approximately 70,725 ranks 143 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 Lansing State Journal

Circulation area

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

4.4

21,871

Black

7.4

36,446

Asian and Pacific Islander

2.4

11,956

Native-American

0.5

2,306

Other non-white

0.1

665

Multi-racial

1.8

9,090

Non-white

16.7

82,334

White

83.4

412,280

Total

494,614

Home county: Ingham

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

5.8

16,190

Black

10.6

29,712

Asian and Pacific Islander

3.7

10,314

Native-American

0.5

1,349

Other non-white

0.2

481

Multi-racial

2.4

6,589

Non-white

23.1

64,635

White

76.9

214,685

Total

279,320

The home county of this newspaper is Ingham.

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

Lansing State Journal

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

48917 / Lansing / MI / 4.4 mi.

6,877

13,677

50.3

$47,468

18.8

4.9

8.7

0.4

2.6

48823 / East Lansing / MI / 4.9 mi.

5,917

19,524

30.3

$33,153

19.6

3.0

6.0

0.3

8.1

48911 / Lansing / MI / 4.1 mi.

5,660

15,737

36.0

$39,491

42.4

7.8

27.3

0.5

3.2

48910 / Lansing / MI / 2.1 mi.

5,591

15,833

35.3

$35,765

26.8

7.8

13.3

0.6

1.9

48906 / Lansing / MI / 4.2 mi.

4,162

10,397

40.0

$35,988

32.2

12.7

12.5

1.0

2.9

48864 / Okemos / MI / 7.5 mi.

3,723

7,770

47.9

$66,802

16.8

2.2

4.0

0.3

8.4

48912 / Lansing / MI / 1.7 mi.

3,408

8,127

41.9

$34,588

31.2

10.7

12.8

0.8

2.8

48854 / Mason / MI / 11.4 mi.

2,754

6,285

43.8

$51,746

6.4

2.6

1.7

0.5

0.7

48837 / Grand Ledge / MI / 10.8 mi.

2,706

6,699

40.4

$57,271

4.7

2.2

0.6

0.3

0.5

48842 / Holt / MI / 6.7 mi.

2,454

7,088

34.6

$49,187

9.0

3.3

2.2

0.4

1.2

48820 / Dewitt / MI / 9.6 mi.

2,281

5,106

44.7

$65,688

5.8

2.4

0.8

0.4

0.9

48813 / Charlotte / MI / 18.3 mi.

2,278

7,545

30.2

$46,924

4.9

2.8

0.5

0.3

0.4

48840 / Haslett / MI / 9.5 mi.

2,216

5,338

41.5

$50,163

8.4

2.4

2.2

0.4

2.2

48879 / Saint Johns / MI / 18.8 mi.

1,973

6,206

31.8

$49,875

4.6

2.7

0.4

48895 / Williamston / MI / 13.7 mi.

1,746

4,136

42.2

$62,164

3.8

1.6

0.4

0.2

0.6

48827 / Eaton Rapids / MI / 16.1 mi.

1,609

5,450

29.5

$51,485

5.0

2.6

0.5

0.4

0.3

48933 / Lansing / MI / 0.3 mi.

1,597

1,511

105.7

$15,599

49.6

10.4

26.9

0.7

6.7

48915 / Lansing / MI / 1.2 mi.

1,569

4,053

38.7

$33,761

56.7

10.8

39.8

0.5

1.7

48875 / Portland / MI / 23.8 mi.

1,099

3,307

33.2

$53,464

2.9

1.2

0.3

0.4

0.2

48821 / Dimondale / MI / 7.9 mi.

961

2,163

44.4

$58,153

6.9

3.3

1.7

0.4

0.5

48848 / Laingsburg / MI / 14.4 mi.

829

2,778

29.8

$56,173

3.4

1.4

0.4

0.3

0.1

48872 / Perry / MI / 17.5 mi.

750

2,708

27.7

$51,450

2.9

0.8

0.2

0.4

0.3

48824 / East Lansing / MI / 3.5 mi.

597

1613.5

20.0

2.2

9.7

0.3

6.3

48808 / Bath / MI / 8.4 mi.

500

1,491

33.5

$57,917

5.0

2.3

0.4

0.5

0.3

48835 / Fowler / MI / 22.4 mi.

472

1,149

41.1

$53,051

1.3

0.9

0.0

0.1

48836 / Fowlerville /