Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
Rocky Mount Telegram
Rocky Mount, North Carolina
Owner: Cox Enterprises (Ga.)
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	16.7
2004	5.6
2003	5.3
2002	0.0
2001	10.5
2000	15.8
1999	5.9
1998	5.6
1997	8.7
1996	5.9
1995	23.5
1994	29.4
1993	Did not report
1992	Did not report
1991	Did not report
1990	Did not report
The latest year at peak is	1994
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Newsroom Diversity Index
for Rocky Mount Telegram
Year	Non-white % of newsroom staff	Non-white % of circulation area	Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005	16.7	50.7	33
2004	5.6	50.7	11
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, Cox Enterprises (Ga.),
has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 66.
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Peer group comparison
for Rocky Mount Telegram
This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 33.				This paper
				Peer group
Compare that with 33, which is the median Diversity Index for all newspapers
reporting in this circulation category of 10,001 to 25,000 daily sales.
In that group, this newspaper's Diversity Index ranks 126 out of 259
newspapers reporting in the category of 10,001 to 25,000 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 Albuquerque Tribune, New Mexico, with a 28.9 percent non-white staff in a community that is 51.7 percent non-white. Its index is 56.
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of
approximately 14,154 ranks 640 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 Rocky Mount Telegram
	Circulation area
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	2.1	2,323
Black	47.0	53,088
Asian and Pacific Islander	0.5	515
Native-American	0.3	369
Other non-white	0.1	104
Multi-racial	0.8	865
Non-white	50.7	57,264
White	49.3	55,687
Total		112,951
	Home county:  Nash
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	3.4	2,939
Black	33.8	29,505
Asian and Pacific Islander	0.6	497
Native-American	0.4	346
Other non-white	0.1	80
Multi-racial	0.8	727
Non-white	39.0	34,094
White	61.0	53,326
Total		87,420
The home county of this newspaper is Nash.
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
Rocky Mount Telegram
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
27804 / Rocky Mount / NC / 0 mi.	4,346	10,253	42.4	$40,376	38.2	2.7	32.5	0.4	1.3
27801 / Rocky Mount / NC / 8.4 mi.	3,010	7,926	38.0	$28,068	77.2	0.9	75.3	0.2	0.1
27803 / Rocky Mount / NC / 6.9 mi.	2,254	8,476	26.6	$35,398	40.1	1.3	37.3	0.3	0.3
27856 / Nashville / NC / 7.5 mi.	1,348	5,469	24.6	$38,521	36.9	2.7	32.8	0.4	0.3
27886 / Tarboro / NC / 16.4 mi.	515	7,476	6.9	$34,749	49.9	5.1	44.2	0.1	0.2
27891 / Whitakers / NC / 8 mi.	490	1,827	26.8	$34,750	66.4	1.9	62.3	0.9	0.2
27809 / Battleboro / NC / 25.8 mi.	489	1,841	26.6	$30,423	61.0	2.2	57.5	0.3	0.2
27882 / Spring Hope / NC / 16.4 mi.	482	2,387	20.2	$34,610	43.0	5.2	36.7	0.3	0.2
27822 / Elm City / NC / 14.2 mi.	255	3,030	8.4	$33,908	35.3	1.9	32.4	0.3	0.1
27823 / Enfield / NC / 14.9 mi.	249	3,124	8.0	$23,861	85.2	0.9	81.4	2.2	0.1
27874 / Scotland Neck / NC / 23.8 mi.	241	2,255	10.7	$21,875	73.9	1.7	71.5	0.1	0.0
27878 / Sharpsburg / NC / 10 mi.	236	653	36.1	$29,514	31.3	1.6	28.8	0.1	0.2
27864 / Pinetops / NC / 14.6 mi.	198	1,589	12.5	$32,413	45.7	2.2	43.2	0.1	0.1
27816 / Castalia / NC / 14.3 mi.	71	780	9.1	$29,764	37.9	3.8	31.8	1.4	0.1
27852 / Macclesfield / NC / 20.9 mi.	55	1,076	5.1	$33,500	23.3	1.9	20.8	0.0	0.0
27844 / Hollister / NC / 17.6 mi.	44	886	5.0	$16,969	95.8	1.4	35.0	55.6	0.2
27843 / Hobgood / NC / 21.9 mi.	33	499	6.6	$25,329	57.5	2.7	54.0	0.1	0.4
File	nc_rocky_mount_telegram
Time	5/21/05 4:42 PM
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