Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
The Free Press, Mankato
Mankato, Minnesota
Owner: Community Newspaper Holdings (Ala.)
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 4.2
2004 Did not report
2003 0.0
2002 0.0
2001 0.0
2000 0.0
1999 0.0
1998 0.0
1997 0.0
1996 0.0
1995 4.5
1994 4.8
1993 4.5
1992 0.0
1991 4.6
1990 Did not report
The latest year at peak is 1994
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Newsroom Diversity Index
for The Free Press, Mankato
Year Non-white % of newsroom staff Non-white % of circulation area Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005 4.2 6.8 61
2004 N/A 6.8 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, Community Newspaper Holdings (Ala.),
has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 41.
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Peer group comparison
for The Free Press, Mankato
This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 61. This paper
Peer group
Compare that with 33, which is the median Diversity Index for all newspapers
reporting in this circulation category of 10,001 to 25,000 daily sales.
In that group, this newspaper's Diversity Index ranks 64 out of 259
newspapers reporting in the category of 10,001 to 25,000 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 The Herald, Sharon, Pennsylvania, with a 8 percent non-white staff in a community that is 7.3 percent non-white. Its index is 110.
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of
approximately 22,032 ranks 436 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 Free Press, Mankato
Circulation area
Race/ethnicity % of population Number of residents
Hispanic 3.7 5,854
Black 0.9 1,425
Asian and Pacific Islander 1.2 1,854
Native-American 0.3 428
Other non-white 0.0 58
Multi-racial 0.7 1,112
  Non-white 6.8 10,731
White 93.2 146,499
Total 157,230
Home county:  Blue Earth
Race/ethnicity % of population Number of residents
Hispanic 1.8 988
Black 1.2 658
Asian and Pacific Islander 1.8 1,022
Native-American 0.2 137
Other non-white 0.0 25
Multi-racial 0.9 491
  Non-white 5.9 3,321
White 94.1 52,620
Total 55,941
The home county of this newspaper is Blue Earth.
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 Free Press, Mankato
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
56001 / Mankato / MN / 0 mi. 8,015 14,700 54.5 $36,790 7.5 2.0 1.6 0.3 2.5
56003 / Mankato / MN / 7.8 mi. 2,881 5,096 56.5 $49,491 4.3 1.5 0.6 0.2 1.3
56082 / Saint Peter / MN / 18.6 mi. 1,555 3,863 40.3 $43,380 6.2 2.5 1.3 0.3 1.3
56093 / Waseca / MN / 24.5 mi. 898 4,608 19.5 $42,943 8.7 3.7 2.9 0.7 0.6
56055 / Lake Crystal / MN / 12.2 mi. 797 1,464 54.4 $42,955 1.7 0.6 0.4 0.3 0.3
56048 / Janesville / MN / 14.4 mi. 665 1,422 46.8 $41,729 3.9 1.3 1.3 0.5 0.2
56081 / Saint James / MN / 31.6 mi. 635 2,447 26.0 $35,299 19.5 18.1 0.3 0.2 0.6
56058 / Le Sueur / MN / 25 mi. 585 2,279 25.7 $45,273 8.3 6.7 0.2 0.3 0.5
56024 / Eagle Lake / MN / 8.4 mi. 583 809 72.1 $46,293 3.4 1.1 0.5 0.0 0.7
56073 / New Ulm / MN / 25.4 mi. 437 6,763 6.5 $42,270 2.3 1.2 0.1 0.1 0.5
56097 / Wells / MN / 28.4 mi. 419 1,698 24.7 $33,060 4.9 3.7 0.1 0.1 0.5
56037 / Good Thunder / MN / 10.1 mi. 406 595 68.2 $43,209 2.2 0.9 0.1 0.1 0.2
56057 / Le Center / MN / 22.6 mi. 375 1,397 26.8 $41,014 6.8 6.2 0.0 0.1 0.4
56065 / Mapleton / MN / 12.8 mi. 351 1,025 34.2 $41,857 3.9 2.6 0.0 0.3 0.4
56062 / Madelia / MN / 19.7 mi. 349 1,268 27.5 $37,167 16.7 15.2 0.4 0.1 0.4
56017 / Cleveland / MN / 16.7 mi. 329 621 53.0 $50,813 2.2 0.9 0.1 0.4 0.3
56028 / Elysian / MN / 16.9 mi. 245 391 62.7 $43,125 1.1 0.9 0.0 0.0 0.0
56010 / Amboy / MN / 18.1 mi. 212 517 41.0 $37,286 2.2 1.0 0.1 0.1 0.2
56013 / Blue Earth / MN / 32.2 mi. 209 2,036 10.3 $36,438 5.2 4.1 0.2 0.1 0.4
56074 / Nicollet / MN / 14.8 mi. 208 673 30.9 $44,444 1.8 0.6 0.1 0.2 0.5
56096 / Waterville / MN / 22.8 mi. 208 1,253 16.6 $41,825 2.2 0.4 0.1 0.5 0.3
56068 / Minnesota Lake / MN / 23.4 mi. 177 441 40.1 $36,250 1.0 0.6 0.0 0.0 0.0
55307 / Arlington / MN / 35.8 mi. 171 1,413 12.1 $41,418 5.9 5.2 0.1 0.1 0.3
56011 / Belle Plaine / MN / 34.7 mi. 169 2,122 8.0 $54,468 2.8 1.1 0.1 0.3 0.6
56098 / Winnebago / MN / 22.7 mi. 163 1,038 15.7 $35,972 5.2 4.1 0.0 0.3 0.4
56159 / Mountain Lake / MN / 47.4 mi. 158 1,120 14.1 $30,389 13.2 4.8 0.7 0.3 5.0
56063 / Madison Lake / MN / 11 mi. 151 932 16.2 $52,574 2.3 1.2 0.2 0.1 0.4
56044 / Henderson / MN / 29.8 mi. 149 716 20.8 $46,979 5.1 3.4 0.0 0.1 0.4
55334 / Gaylord / MN / 29.6 mi. 134 1,144 11.7 $38,984 15.1 13.5 0.2 0.4 0.6
56072 / New Richland / MN / 27.9 mi. 123 967 12.7 $40,625 1.9 1.4 0.0 0.0 0.2
56069 / Montgomery / MN / 30.1 mi. 100 1,650 6.1 $40,558 8.1 6.7 0.2 0.2 0.2
56090 / Vernon Center / MN / 15.5 mi. 98 244 40.2 $47,679 1.2 0.8 0.0 0.3 0.2
56080 / Saint Clair / MN / 9.1 mi. 89 254 35.0 $44,375 0.8 0.8 0.0 0.0 0.0
56078 / Pemberton / MN / 15.1 mi. 70 191 36.6 $44,107 0.7 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
56088 / Truman / MN / 30.1 mi. 69 853 8.1 $36,833 1.1 0.5 0.1 0.2 0.1
56025 / Easton / MN / 24.4 mi. 65 182 35.7 $31,813 2.5 0.8 0.8 0.0 0.2
56041 / Hanska / MN / 24.6 mi. 64 474 13.5 $42,031 1.4 0.7 0.2 0.0 0.3
56050 / Kasota / MN / 12.5 mi. 64 524 12.2 $47,176 3.3 1.2 0.4 0.7 0.1
56101 / Windom / MN / 62.5 mi. 63 2,489 2.5 $32,640 3.2 1.5 0.2 0.3 0.7
56091 / Waldorf / MN / 19.1 mi. 60 155 38.7 $40,521 1.9 1.1 0.0 0.0 0.3
56120 / Butterfield / MN / 40.8 mi. 60 470 12.8 $35,647 15.0 9.5 0.2 0.5 4.0
56023 / Delavan / MN / 22.8 mi. 56 234 23.9 $38,843 3.5 2.1 0.2 0.5 0.0
56060 / Lewisville / MN / 25.3 mi. 45 209 21.5 $32,431 9.8 7.6 0.9 0.2 0.0
56031 / Fairmont / MN / 40.8 mi. 44 5,379 0.8 $34,622 4.4 2.7 0.4 0.1 0.6
56054 / Lafayette / MN / 29.7 mi. 33 371 8.9 $40,156 1.6 0.7 0.0 0.1 0.1
56085 / Sleepy Eye / MN / 37.8 mi. 32 2,279 1.4 $39,200 5.8 4.9 0.1 0.0 0.3
55396 / Winthrop / MN / 34.9 mi. 31 922 3.4 $36,081 5.7 4.4 0.1 0.2 0.1
56034 / Garden City / MN / 10 mi. 30 246 12.2 $46,136 2.7 1.9 0.2 0.0 0.3
55338 / Green Isle / MN / 38.1 mi. 24 336 7.1 $48,667 2.6 1.4 0.2 0.1 0.6
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