Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
The Kansas City Star
Kansas City, Missouri
Owner: Knight Ridder (Calif.)
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	17.3
2004	17.9
2003	17.5
2002	15.8
2001	17.8
2000	17.7
1999	17.0
1998	15.9
1997	17.4
1996	16.8
1995	15.0
1994	11.9
1993	12.4
1992	10.5
1991	12.8
1990	Did not report
The latest year at peak is	2004
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Newsroom Diversity Index
for The Kansas City Star
Year	Non-white % of newsroom staff	Non-white % of circulation area	Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005	17.3	20.4	85
2004	17.9	20.6	87
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, Knight Ridder (Calif.),
has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 76.
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Peer group comparison
for The Kansas City Star
This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 85.				This paper
				Peer group
Compare that with 70, which is the median Diversity Index for all newspapers
reporting in this circulation category of 250,001 to 500,000 daily sales.
In that group, this newspaper's Diversity Index ranks 6 out of 24
newspapers reporting in the category of 250,001 to 500,000 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 Oregonian, Portland, Oregon, with a 18.8 percent non-white staff in a community that is 18.2 percent non-white. Its index is 103.
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of
approximately 275,747 ranks 29 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 Kansas City Star
	Circulation area
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	5.0	96,244
Black	11.9	230,130
Asian and Pacific Islander	1.6	31,695
Native-American	0.4	8,260
Other non-white	0.1	2,184
Multi-racial	1.5	29,756
Non-white	20.6	398,269
White	79.4	1,534,587
Total		1,932,856
	Home county:  Jackson
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	5.4	35,160
Black	23.1	151,333
Asian and Pacific Islander	1.4	9,400
Native-American	0.4	2,775
Other non-white	0.1	894
Multi-racial	1.8	11,891
Non-white	32.3	211,453
White	67.7	443,427
Total		654,880
The home county of this newspaper is Jackson.
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 Kansas City Star
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
66062 / Overland Park / KS / 18.4 mi.	7,545	18,463	40.9	$68,682	11.2	3.5	3.2	0.3	2.9
64055 / Independence / MO / 9.3 mi.	6,046	14,833	40.8	$42,364	7.7	3.0	2.0	0.4	1.0
64114 / Kansas City / MO / 7.8 mi.	6,032	12,134	49.7	$43,117	13.1	3.5	5.7	0.3	2.1
66212 / Shawnee Mission / KS / 9.5 mi.	5,704	14,698	38.8	$50,556	15.0	5.7	3.2	0.2	4.6
64118 / Village of Oakvi / MO / 8.5 mi.	5,243	16,719	31.4	$45,764	11.8	4.4	3.4	0.5	1.8
66208 / Shawnee Mission / KS / 6 mi.	5,068	9,489	53.4	$61,951	4.8	2.2	0.7	0.1	0.9
64133 / Raytown / MO / 7.6 mi.	5,005	14,586	34.3	$42,928	19.9	2.7	14.1	0.4	1.0
66061 / Olathe / KS / 19.4 mi.	4,929	15,203	32.4	$52,816	16.3	7.6	4.1	0.5	2.4
66213 / Shawnee Mission / KS / 13.2 mi.	4,790	9,759	49.1	$87,792	11.6	2.4	2.5	0.2	5.5
66209 / Shawnee Mission / KS / 12 mi.	4,714	6,616	71.3	$106,984	6.4	1.3	1.6	0.1	2.8
66215 / Shawnee Mission / KS / 11.2 mi.	4,545	9,919	45.8	$60,274	11.9	4.2	3.0	0.3	3.1
64068 / Pleasant Valley / MO / 13.9 mi.	4,541	12,099	37.5	$53,710	7.2	2.5	2.3	0.4	0.6
66216 / Shawnee Mission / KS / 9.2 mi.	4,089	8,343	49.0	$67,337	13.0	3.7	3.4	0.3	4.2
64119 / Kansas City / MO / 8.6 mi.	3,994	10,158	39.3	$49,533	8.7	3.8	1.8	0.4	1.4
64151 / Riverside / MO / 8.6 mi.	3,682	9,603	38.3	$56,974	11.4	3.1	4.3	0.3	1.9
64015 / Lake Tapawingo / MO / 14.9 mi.	3,559	10,488	33.9	$55,841	7.9	2.4	2.9	0.4	0.9
66207 / Shawnee Mission / KS / 8.6 mi.	3,541	5,375	65.9	$70,404	5.8	1.8	0.9	0.2	2.0
66210 / Shawnee Mission / KS / 12.2 mi.	3,464	7,570	45.8	$67,898	12.1	3.2	2.6	0.2	4.7
64108 / Kansas City / MO / 0 mi.	3,382	2,664	127.0	$27,508	73.6	38.8	31.5	0.5	1.2
64152 / Weatherby Lake / MO / 10.8 mi.	3,281	8,610	38.1	$62,769	10.3	3.2	3.3	0.5	2.0
64030 / Grandview / MO / 13.3 mi.	3,245	9,707	33.4	$40,003	42.0	4.3	33.3	0.5	1.1
66204 / Shawnee Mission / KS / 7.6 mi.	3,217	8,430	38.2	$44,704	12.6	5.7	2.8	0.4	2.2
64113 / Kansas City / MO / 4.5 mi.	3,194	4,768	67.0	$87,108	5.3	1.7	1.5	0.2	1.0
64138 / Raytown / MO / 9.1 mi.	3,112	10,262	30.3	$41,752	33.2	2.9	26.6	0.4	1.1
64131 / Kansas City / MO / 7.5 mi.	3,012	10,109	29.8