Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
The Detroit News
Detroit, 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	26.2
2004	25.7
2003	22.7
2002	22.1
2001	20.4
2000	19.0
1999	18.5
1998	18.6
1997	18.3
1996	16.5
1995	Did not report
1994	19.5
1993	18.7
1992	16.8
1991	15.4
1990	14.7
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 Detroit News
Year	Non-white % of newsroom staff	Non-white % of circulation area	Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005	26.2	21.6	121
2004	25.7	19.5	132
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 The Detroit News
This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 121.				This paper
				Peer group
Compare that with 64, which is the median Diversity Index for all newspapers
reporting in this circulation category of 100,001 to 250,000 daily sales.
In that group, this newspaper's Diversity Index ranks 6 out of 58
newspapers reporting in the category of 100,001 to 250,000 daily sales.
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of
approximately 224,215 ranks 46 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 Detroit News
	Circulation area
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	2.0	54,424
Black	12.1	322,664
Asian and Pacific Islander	3.0	81,096
Native-American	0.3	7,556
Other non-white	0.1	3,435
Multi-racial	1.9	51,911
Non-white	19.5	521,086
White	80.5	2,147,912
Total		2,668,998
	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
The Detroit 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
48375 / Novi Township / MI / 21.3 mi.	4,879	8,127	60.0	$75,545	16.1	1.9	2.1	0.1	10.6
48312 / Sterling Heights / MI / 14.6 mi.	3,653	12,913	28.3	$54,097	8.5	1.2	1.7	0.2	4.1
48154 / Livonia / MI / 16.1 mi.	2,639	14,717	17.9	$69,071	4.9	1.6	0.7	0.2	1.5
48180 / Taylor / MI / 12.3 mi.	2,615	24,776	10.6	$42,944	16.0	3.2	8.7	0.6	1.6
48218 / River Rouge / MI / 5.8 mi.	2,577	3,701	69.6	$29,057	49.6	4.8	41.5	0.6	0.2
48170 / Plymouth / MI / 22.5 mi.	2,461	16,152	15.2	$67,360	7.4	1.5	2.2	0.3	2.2
48236 / Grosse Pointe Woods / MI / 9.3 mi.	2,423	12,149	19.9	$82,567	6.3	1.1	2.3	0.1	2.0
48124 / Dearborn / MI / 9.9 mi.	2,406	14,201	16.9	$55,632	6.7	2.9	1.0	0.3	1.3
48152 / Livonia / MI / 16.4 mi.	2,330	12,454	18.7	$62,103	7.6	1.8	1.4	0.2	3.0
48226 / Detroit / MI / 0 mi.	2,279	2,630	86.7	$29,770	79.3	2.5	73.5	0.2	1.4
48185 / Westland / MI / 16.5 mi.	2,272	22,520	10.1	$43,925	15.1	2.5	6.2	0.4	3.9
48167 / Northville Township / MI / 20.8 mi.	2,220	14,349	15.5	$79,579	9.6	1.7	3.0	0.2	3.5
48150 / Livonia / MI / 15.3 mi.	2,218	11,003	20.2	$59,015	5.3	1.9	0.7	0.3	1.3
48227 / Detroit / MI / 7.7 mi.	2,218	20,751	10.7	$31,760	98.0	0.6	95.7	0.2	0.1
48228 / Detroit / MI / 7.9 mi.	2,215	23,227	9.5	$31,787	77.8	3.4	69.4	0.3	0.6
48235 / Detroit / MI / 9.1 mi.	2,158	19,754	10.9	$40,041	98.4	0.6	96.0	0.2	0.2
48066 / Roseville / MI / 12.3 mi.	2,142	20,428	10.5	$41,171	7.5	1.5	2.6	0.4	1.6
48038 / Clinton Township / MI / 17.9 mi.	2,122	17,209	12.3	$53,352	6.4	2.0	1.4	0.2	1.6
48239 / Redford Township / MI / 11.5 mi.	2,098	14,878	14.1	$49,556	20.1	2.4	14.5	0.3	1.2
48187 / Canton Township / MI / 20.3 mi.	2,083	16,337	12.8	$71,694	16.7	2.2	3.9	0.2	8.5
48127 / Dearborn Heights / MI / 11 mi.	2,079	14,400	14.4	$49,689	12.1	3.0	2.7	0.2	2.9
48183 / Woodhaven / MI / 14.9 mi.	2,062	16,028	12.9	$55,045	7.5	2.8	1.5	0.4	1.5
48126 / Dearborn / MI / 6.8 mi.	2,033	15,587	13.0	$31,159	21.7	3.2	1.4	0.2	1.4
48034 / Southfield / MI / 14.6 mi.	1,928	15,478	12.5	$47,914	61.7	1.4	52.3	0.2	4.2
48310 / Sterling Heights / MI / 15.2 mi.	1,842	14,653	12.6	$61,047	14.4	1.2	1.2	0.2