The Sun Herald, Biloxi... 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

The Sun Herald, Biloxi

Biloxi, Mississippi

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

9.1

2004

5.9

2003

6.4

2002

10.2

2001

12.7

2000

16.1

1999

19.4

1998

14.0

1997

12.1

1996

12.5

1995

13.8

1994

13.8

1993

10.5

1992

7.4

1991

Did not report

1990

Did not report

The latest year at peak is

1999

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

Newsroom Diversity Index

for The Sun Herald, Biloxi

Year

Non-white % of newsroom staff

Non-white % of circulation area

Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)

2005

9.1

25.5

2004

5.9

25.5

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 Sun Herald, Biloxi

This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 36.

This paper

Peer group

Compare that with 44, which is the median Diversity Index for all newspapers

reporting in this circulation category of 25,001 to 50,000 daily sales.

In that group, this newspaper's Diversity Index ranks 88 out of 140

newspapers reporting in the category of 25,001 to 50,000 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 Longview News-Journal, Texas, with a 23.1 percent non-white staff in a community that is 28.4 percent non-white. Its index is 81.

FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of

approximately 46,598 ranks 226 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 Sun Herald, Biloxi

Circulation area

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

2.3

7,772

Black

19.4

67,021

Asian and Pacific Islander

2.1

7,252

Native-American

0.4

1,428

Other non-white

0.1

333

Multi-racial

1.3

4,326

Non-white

25.5

88,132

White

74.5

256,977

Total

345,109

Home county: Harrison

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

2.6

4,910

Black

20.9

39,694

Asian and Pacific Islander

2.7

5,025

Native-American

0.4

797

Other non-white

0.1

222

Multi-racial

1.5

2,812

Non-white

28.2

53,460

White

71.8

136,141

Total

189,601

The home county of this newspaper is Harrison.

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 Sun Herald, Biloxi

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

39564 / Ocean Springs / MS / 16.8 mi.

5,616

11,984

46.9

$47,133

13.6

2.3

6.6

0.4

3.0

39503 / Gulfport / MS / 8.8 mi.

5,581

12,723

43.9

$40,530

25.5

2.3

19.7

0.4

1.4

39532 / Biloxi / MS / 7.8 mi.

4,020

12,254

32.8

$41,411

15.6

2.2

7.2

0.4

4.3

39507 / Gulfport / MS / 0 mi.

3,740

8,440

44.3

$35,586

23.6

2.9

17.9

0.4

1.2

39531 / Biloxi / MS / 4.1 mi.

3,536

8,275

42.7

$34,863

29.9

4.3

19.2

0.5

3.2

39560 / Long Beach / MS / 8.6 mi.

3,181

7,366

43.2

$43,069

13.6

2.2

7.3

0.3

2.4

39501 / Gulfport / MS / 3.8 mi.

3,011

9,549

31.5

$25,305

59.2

2.3

54.2

0.4

1.0

39530 / Biloxi / MS / 8.2 mi.

2,563

6,326

40.5

$26,187

43.2

3.8

27.6

0.5

9.3

39571 / Pass Christian / MS / 17.9 mi.

2,332

6,419

36.3

$38,645

20.6

1.5

15.6

0.5

2.0

39520 / Bay Saint Louis / MS / 29.6 mi.

1,832

6,858

26.7

$31,303

13.9

1.8

8.8

0.8

1.2

39525 / Diamondhead / MS / 19.9 mi.

1,622

2,548

63.7

$51,449

6.9

3.0

1.8

0.4

0.9

39574 / Saucier / MS / 14.6 mi.

1,309

3,808

34.4

$35,107

7.0

1.2

3.8

0.5

0.4

39553 / Gautier / MS / 23.1 mi.

1,177

5,974

19.7

$41,186

31.3

2.9

25.5

0.5

1.1

39576 / Waveland / MS / 22.3 mi.

949

2,825

33.6

$33,214

15.7

2.0

10.8

0.5

1.4

39565 / Ocean Springs / MS / 21.1 mi.

903

4,753

19.0

$40,753

6.5

1.1

3.4

0.6

39567 / Pascagoula / MS / 38.3 mi.

822

5,310

15.5

$30,870

29.4

2.0

25.7

0.2

0.5

39577 / Wiggins / MS / 32.8 mi.

763

3,812

20.0

$28,145

23.9

1.1

22.1

0.1

39563 / Moss Point / MS / 29.9 mi.

648

5,734

11.3

$32,072

72.1

1.0

70.1

0.1

0.3

39573 / Perkinston / MS / 23.8 mi.

493

2,295

21.5

$36,406

8.5

1.3

5.7

0.4

0.3

39466 / Picayune / MS / 41.2 mi.

478

9,245

5.2

$28,186

19.9

1.4

16.6

0.4

39556 / Kiln / MS / 27.3 mi.

461

1,597

28.9

$35,363

6.8

1.5

4.0

0.4

0.2

39562 / Moss Point / MS / 29.9 mi.

358

5,792

6.2

$38,628

9.0

0.6

7.1

0.2

0.4

39581 / Pascagoula / MS / 33.8 mi.

276

4,530

6.1

$33,233

40.9

6.0

32.4

0.2

1.5

39402 / Hattiesburg / MS / 66.3 mi.

209

12,177

1.7

$41,166

18.8

1.2

15.3

0.1

1.4

39470 / Poplarville / MS / 46.6 mi.

187

4,076

4.6

$31,331

14.5

1.1

11.7

0.5

0.4

39452 / Lucedale / MS / 41.5 mi.

173

8,043

2.2

$34,724

10.6

1.5

8.1

0.2

39561 / Mc Henry / MS / 23.7 mi.

458

21.2

$35,809

3.9

0.7

2.5

0.4

0.1

39572 / Pearlington / MS / 35.6 mi.

684

9.9

$31,760

22.5

1.3

19.4

0.4

0.1

39426 / Carriere / MS / 35.2 mi.

4,855

1.0

$37,374

6.8

1.6

3.5

0.4

0.2

39455 / Lumberton / MS / 52.8 mi.

2,705

0.9

$24,974

21.6

1.1

19.6

0.3

0.2

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