Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
The Oakland Press, Pontiac
Pontiac, Michigan
Owner: Journal Register (N.J.)
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	8.1
2004	Did not report
2003	Did not report
2002	Did not report
2001	8.1
2000	8.2
1999	9.3
1998	0.0
1997	18.8
1996	Did not report
1995	Did not report
1994	15.3
1993	16.7
1992	12.9
1991	Did not report
1990	Did not report
The latest year at peak is	1997
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Newsroom Diversity Index
for The Oakland Press, Pontiac
Year	Non-white % of newsroom staff	Non-white % of circulation area	Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005	8.1	15.6	52
2004	N/A	15.1	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.)
Company index
This newspaper's owner, Journal Register (N.J.),
has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 24.
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Peer group comparison
for The Oakland Press, Pontiac
This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 52.				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 41 out of 90
newspapers reporting in the category of 50,001 to 100,000 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 Florida Today, Melbourne, Florida, with a 19.1 percent non-white staff in a community that is 16.3 percent non-white. Its index is 117.
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of
approximately 66,140 ranks 153 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 Oakland Press, Pontiac
	Circulation area
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	3.5	20,198
Black	7.4	42,739
Asian and Pacific Islander	2.6	14,991
Native-American	0.3	1,580
Other non-white	0.1	534
Multi-racial	1.3	7,520
Non-white	15.1	87,562
White	84.9	490,627
Total		578,189
	Home county:  Oakland
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	2.4	28,999
Black	10.0	119,708
Asian and Pacific Islander	4.1	49,470
Native-American	0.2	2,854
Other non-white	0.1	1,681
Multi-racial	1.7	19,692
Non-white	18.6	222,404
White	81.4	971,752
Total		1,194,156
The home county of this newspaper is Oakland.
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 Oakland Press, Pontiac
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
48329 / Waterford Township / MI / 6 mi.	4,598	9,959	46.2	$64,277	7.3	2.8	1.8	0.3	1.1
48328 / Waterford Township / MI / 3.8 mi.	3,602	10,805	33.3	$47,917	13.1	5.1	5.1	0.3	1.2
48346 / Independence Township / MI / 8.4 mi.	3,249	8,843	36.7	$67,428	6.8	2.9	1.1	0.3	1.3
48341 / Pontiac / MI / 1.6 mi.	3,141	7,208	43.6	$32,031	70.9	7.5	59.5	0.4	1.1
48327 / Waterford Township / MI / 6.4 mi.	2,889	8,784	32.9	$52,000	9.3	3.9	1.9	0.3	1.6
48340 / Pontiac / MI / 1.9 mi.	2,881	9,676	29.8	$31,342	49.2	16.5	26.8	0.5	2.6
48342 / Pontiac / MI / 0 mi.	2,774	7,263	38.2	$29,017	79.2	13.2	59.9	0.4	3.2
48307 / Rochester Hills / MI / 7.2 mi.	2,713	15,767	17.2	$62,484	13.6	2.4	2.5	0.2	6.9
48371 / Oxford / MI / 12.5 mi.	2,559	6,658	38.4	$65,277	4.5	2.1	0.7	0.2	0.5
48348 / Independence Township / MI / 9.9 mi.	2,494	6,694	37.3	$83,476	4.6	1.8	0.8	0.2	0.9
48309 / Rochester Hills / MI / 4.9 mi.	2,471	10,288	24.0	$81,444	13.3	2.4	3.8	0.2	5.9
48326 / Lake Angelus / MI / 3.1 mi.	2,308	7,781	29.7	$51,089	26.1	4.7	12.1	0.3	6.6
48386 / White Lake / MI / 9.3 mi.	1,942	5,874	33.1	$62,495	4.8	1.7	0.9	0.4	0.7
48306 / Rochester Hills / MI / 7.9 mi.	1,924	7,825	24.6	$106,828	8.9	1.3	1.9	0.1	4.7
48362 / Orion Township / MI / 8.9 mi.	1,757	5,149	34.1	$70,123	4.6	2.0	0.6	0.3	0.8
48462 / Ortonville / MI / 14.5 mi.	1,596	4,388	36.4	$74,932	3.3	1.3	0.3	0.3	0.5
48442 / Holly / MI / 18.4 mi.	1,377	6,933	19.9	$53,438	6.0	2.5	1.6	0.3	0.4
48390 / Wolverine Lake / MI / 11.4 mi.	1,357	7,929	17.1	$60,500	5.3	1.4	0.7	0.2	2.0
48382 / Commerce Township / MI / 10.6 mi.	1,336	6,541	20.4	$78,982	3.7	1.2	0.5	0.2	0.9
48360 / Orion Township / MI / 6.7 mi.	1,188	4,006	29.7	$81,345	6.1	2.1	1.4	0.2	1.5
48383 / White Lake / MI / 12.7 mi.	1,171	4,211	27.8	$72,846	4.4	1.8	0.6	0.4	0.5
48359 / Orion Township / MI / 5 mi.	1,016	2,893	35.1	$60,114	9.3	4.4	2.0	0.3	1.3
48324 / West Bloomfield / MI / 6.4 mi.	965	6,424	15.0	$89,021	10.3	1.5	3.4	0.2	3.9
48381 / Milford Township / MI / 15.8 mi.	926	4,447	20.8	$64,009	3.5	1.2	0.4	0.3	0.5
48356 / Highland Township / MI / 14.5 mi.	922	3,162