Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
Laurel Leader-Call
Laurel, Mississippi
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	11.1
2004	11.1
2003	16.7
2002	Did not report
2001	0.0
2000	Did not report
1999	Did not report
1998	Did not report
1997	0.0
1996	Did not report
1995	Did not report
1994	Did not report
1993	Did not report
1992	Did not report
1991	Did not report
1990	Did not report
The latest year at peak is	2003
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Newsroom Diversity Index
for Laurel Leader-Call
Year	Non-white % of newsroom staff	Non-white % of circulation area	Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005	11.1	32.5	34
2004	11.1	32.5	34
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 Laurel Leader-Call
This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 34.				This paper
				Peer group
Compare that with 0, which is the median Diversity Index for all newspapers
reporting in this circulation category of 5,001 to 10,000 daily sales.
In that group, this newspaper's Diversity Index ranks 67 out of 211
newspapers reporting in the category of 5,001 to 10,000 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 Daily Leader, Brookhaven, Mississippi, with a 28.6 percent non-white staff in a community that is 30.4 percent non-white. Its index is 94.
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of
approximately 7,808 ranks 926 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 Laurel Leader-Call
	Circulation area
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	1.8	1,285
Black	29.8	21,846
Asian and Pacific Islander	0.3	188
Native-American	0.3	234
Other non-white	0.0	24
Multi-racial	0.4	286
Non-white	32.5	23,863
White	67.5	49,571
Total		73,434
	Home county:  Jones
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	2.0	1,271
Black	26.2	17,032
Asian and Pacific Islander	0.3	178
Native-American	0.4	241
Other non-white	0.0	21
Multi-racial	0.4	260
Non-white	29.3	19,003
White	70.8	45,955
Total		64,958
The home county of this newspaper is Jones.
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
Laurel Leader-Call
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
39440 / Laurel / MS / 0 mi.	3,045	8,193	37.2	$25,827	54.0	3.9	49.0	0.1	0.6
39443 / Laurel / MS / 2.1 mi.	2,006	7,837	25.6	$30,716	15.5	1.0	13.8	0.1	0.1
39437 / Ellisville / MS / 11.7 mi.	685	4,223	16.2	$31,113	18.2	1.0	16.4	0.2	0.2
39439 / Heidelberg / MS / 14.5 mi.	365	1,703	21.4	$24,578	64.4	0.6	60.6	2.8	0.0
39480 / Soso / MS / 13.4 mi.	352	967	36.4	$32,011	13.4	1.1	11.4	0.3	0.1
39168 / Taylorsville / MS / 19.7 mi.	321	2,284	14.1	$28,458	47.8	0.6	46.7	0.1	0.0
39464 / Ovett / MS / 15.4 mi.	207	852	24.3	$27,647	2.4	0.9	0.6	0.1	0.0
39477 / Sandersville / MS / 8.2 mi.	193	397	48.6	$28,214	7.6	0.1	6.7	0.7	0.0
39481 / Stringer / MS / 14.1 mi.	146	915	16.0	$32,049	12.8	0.4	11.5	0.0	0.5
39367 / Waynesboro / MS / 23.4 mi.	134	5,981	2.2	$26,192	40.2	0.7	39.1	0.1	0.2
39422 / Bay Springs / MS / 18.4 mi.	128	2,184	5.9	$24,944	47.5	0.7	46.1	0.1	0.0
File	ms_laurel_leader-call
Time	5/22/05 12:26 AM
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