Asheville Citizen-Times... 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

Asheville Citizen-Times

Asheville, North Carolina

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

17.0

2004

14.3

2003

13.3

2002

8.6

2001

11.3

2000

9.7

1999

7.2

1998

4.0

1997

14.3

1996

3.2

1995

1.7

1994

3.6

1993

3.4

1992

3.3

1991

4.8

1990

4.9

The latest year at peak is

2005

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

Newsroom Diversity Index

for Asheville Citizen-Times

Year

Non-white % of newsroom staff

Non-white % of circulation area

Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)

2005

17.0

9.9

172

2004

14.3

9.9

144

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 Asheville Citizen-Times

This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 172.

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 2 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 59,308 ranks 177 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 Asheville Citizen-Times

Circulation area

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

2.3

10,778

Black

4.6

21,941

Asian and Pacific Islander

0.5

2,495

Native-American

1.5

7,229

Other non-white

0.1

358

Multi-racial

0.9

4,392

Non-white

9.9

47,193

White

90.1

428,914

Total

476,107

Home county: Buncombe

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

2.8

5,730

Black

7.4

15,310

Asian and Pacific Islander

0.7

1,431

Native-American

0.4

748

Other non-white

0.1

221

Multi-racial

1.1

2,169

Non-white

12.4

25,609

White

87.6

180,721

Total

206,330

The home county of this newspaper is Buncombe.

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

Asheville Citizen-Times

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

28806 / Asheville / NC / 3.9 mi.

4,830

14,011

34.5

$33,331

17.0

6.1

8.1

0.4

0.9

28803 / Asheville / NC / 5 mi.

4,563

10,486

43.5

$40,880

18.3

3.6

11.9

0.3

1.1

28804 / Asheville / NC / 3.8 mi.

3,637

8,014

45.4

$42,263

7.1

2.4

2.9

0.3

0.7

28805 / Asheville / NC / 4.1 mi.

2,810

7,139

39.4

$39,378

10.3

2.2

5.9

0.2

0.9

28801 / Asheville / NC / 0 mi.

2,784

6,155

45.2

$20,804

49.7

2.5

44.5

0.5

28786 / Waynesville / NC / 25.2 mi.

2,660

10,916

24.4

$32,836

4.2

1.4

1.3

0.5

0.3

28715 / Candler / NC / 10.6 mi.

2,449

8,871

27.6

$35,762

3.4

1.4

0.5

0.4

0.3

28704 / Arden / NC / 9.7 mi.

2,222

6,100

36.4

$42,689

10.0

1.7

6.0

0.2

0.9

28787 / Weaverville / NC / 9.1 mi.

2,197

6,644

33.1

$40,069

4.3

2.2

0.5

0.4

28712 / Brevard / NC / 27.7 mi.

1,859

7,341

25.3

$37,978

8.5

1.1

5.4

0.3

0.5

28734 / Franklin / NC / 56.7 mi.

1,840

9,883

18.6

$31,145

4.3

1.4

1.5

0.3

0.5

28711 / Black Mountain / NC / 14.2 mi.

1,791

5,080

35.3

$37,068

7.9

0.9

4.8

0.3

0.7

28752 / Marion / NC / 30.7 mi.

1,605

11,545

13.9

$32,162

9.7

3.5

4.4

0.3

0.7

28716 / Canton / NC / 20.3 mi.

1,512

7,093

21.3

$32,961

4.0

1.6

1.4

0.3

0.1

28732 / Fletcher / NC / 11.4 mi.

1,231

4,850

25.4

$42,816

8.8

2.1

4.5

0.3

0.9

28779 / Sylva / NC / 39.8 mi.

1,157

5,913

19.6

$32,046

6.0

1.2

1.4

1.5

0.5

28714 / Burnsville / NC / 24 mi.

1,115

6,606

16.9

$29,304

4.5

3.0

0.6

0.2

0.1

28713 / Bryson City / NC / 59.1 mi.

1,032

3,519

29.3

$28,741

8.7

1.1

0.8

5.3

0.2

28739 / Hendersonville / NC / 22.5 mi.

1,013

7,787

13.0

$40,226

7.5

2.8

3.1

0.2

0.6

28778 / Swannanoa / NC / 8.2 mi.

947

3,483

27.2

$33,516

10.1

3.8

4.0

0.5

0.6

28768 / Pisgah Forest / NC / 23.1 mi.

890

2,843

31.3

$42,449

6.6

1.3

4.2

0.4

0.2

28777 / Spruce Pine / NC / 34.2 mi.

866

3,938

22.0

$33,055

8.2

2.2

5.0

0.2

0.3

28748 / Leicester / NC / 12 mi.

863

3,753

23.0

$35,086

4.5

1.9

0.7

0.6

0.4

28730 / Fairview / NC / 10.5 mi.

740

3,049

24.3

$41,763

3.0

0.9

0.2

0.6

0.4

28754 / Mars Hill / NC / 19.6 mi.

686

2,817

24.4

$34,545

4.3

1.1

1.9

0.3

0.4