Springfield News-Leader... 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

Springfield News-Leader

Springfield, Missouri

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

15.0

2004

10.7

2003

8.8

2002

13.3

2001

4.5

2000

9.7

1999

7.4

1998

8.8

1997

7.1

1996

10.6

1995

Did not report

1994

8.2

1993

6.5

1992

8.1

1991

10.3

1990

6.5

The latest year at peak is

2005

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

Newsroom Diversity Index

for Springfield News-Leader

Year

Non-white % of newsroom staff

Non-white % of circulation area

Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)

2005

15.0

5.9

254

2004

10.7

5.9

181

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 Springfield News-Leader

This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 254.

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 1 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 60,736 ranks 173 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 Springfield News-Leader

Circulation area

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

1.8

8,798

Black

1.3

6,194

Asian and Pacific Islander

0.7

3,530

Native-American

0.6

3,010

Other non-white

0.1

357

Multi-racial

1.3

6,316

Non-white

5.9

28,205

White

94.1

449,301

Total

477,506

Home county: Greene

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

1.8

4,434

Black

2.2

5,322

Asian and Pacific Islander

1.2

2,817

Native-American

0.6

1,513

Other non-white

0.1

272

Multi-racial

1.5

3,586

Non-white

7.5

17,944

White

92.5

222,447

Total

240,391

The home county of this newspaper is Greene.

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

Springfield News-Leader

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

65804 / Springfield / MO / 4.3 mi.

8,555

16,518

51.8

$37,173

6.2

1.6

1.4

0.4

1.4

65807 / Springfield / MO / 3.1 mi.

7,709

20,197

38.2

$34,631

9.6

2.3

3.1

0.6

2.0

65803 / Springfield / MO / 7.9 mi.

5,386

15,197

35.4

$28,968

7.8

2.0

2.7

0.8

0.5

65802 / Springfield / MO / 2.4 mi.

4,824

15,778

30.6

$28,203

9.7

2.5

3.6

0.8

0.9

65714 / Nixa / MO / 11.3 mi.

2,754

7,926

34.7

$42,096

3.5

1.5

0.3

0.4

65810 / Springfield / MO / 6.1 mi.

2,750

5,837

47.1

$57,172

5.5

1.3

0.8

0.4

2.0

65721 / Ozark / MO / 15.6 mi.

2,204

7,072

31.2

$38,633

3.6

1.4

0.2

0.5

0.3

65809 / Springfield / MO / 6.2 mi.

2,161

3,450

62.6

$72,474

4.2

0.6

0.8

0.4

1.4

65616 / Branson / MO / 35.9 mi.

2,054

7,213

28.5

$33,558

6.6

3.6

0.4

0.8

0.6

65806 / Springfield / MO / 0 mi.

1,588

5,314

29.9

$15,484

15.4

3.4

5.3

1.3

2.3

65738 / Republic / MO / 13 mi.

1,534

4,211

36.4

$36,669

3.4

1.1

0.2

0.5

0.4

65742 / Rogersville / MO / 14 mi.

1,078

3,328

32.4

$40,713

3.3

1.1

0.2

0.6

0.3

65613 / Bolivar / MO / 28.5 mi.

870

5,448

16.0

$29,891

4.0

1.5

0.6

0.3

65706 / Marshfield / MO / 21.8 mi.

868

4,872

17.8

$35,014

3.1

1.2

0.2

0.6

0.3

65536 / Lebanon / MO / 49.8 mi.

865

10,421

8.3

$30,074

3.9

1.3

0.5

0.4

65781 / Willard / MO / 10.8 mi.

801

2,235

35.8

$37,439

2.4

0.5

0.2

0.5

0.1

65686 / Kimberling City / MO / 39.5 mi.

761

1,962

38.8

$37,320

2.5

1.0

0.1

0.2

65605 / Aurora / MO / 31.6 mi.

668

4,588

14.6

$27,377

4.3

2.0

0.1

0.6

0.2

65757 / Strafford / MO / 12.6 mi.

597

2,218

26.9

$38,713

2.8

1.2

0.2

0.5

0.1

65619 / Brookline Station / MO / 6.8 mi.

595

1,599

37.2

$44,410

3.7

0.9

0.2

0.5

0.7

65708 / Monett / MO / 41.1 mi.

529

4,301

12.3

$32,549

12.3

10.0

0.1

0.8

0.6

65712 / Mount Vernon / MO / 27.3 mi.

522

2,765

18.9

$32,886

3.6

1.3

0.4

0.7

0.3

65775 / West Plains / MO / 83.3 mi.

506

9,047

5.6

$27,321

4.2

1.3

0.4

0.8

0.5

65622 / Buffalo / MO / 25.2 mi.

454

3,092

14.7

$26,062

3.3

1.1

0.1

0.9

0.0

65653 / Forsyth / MO / 33.2 mi.

415

2,079

20.0

$30,476

2.5

0.6

0.3

0.4

0.1