Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
The Charlotte Observer
Charlotte, North Carolina
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	16.3
2004	16.7
2003	16.9
2002	14.9
2001	17.1
2000	14.4
1999	14.5
1998	15.3
1997	12.7
1996	13.4
1995	13.9
1994	13.9
1993	13.9
1992	13.3
1991	12.7
1990	11.4
The latest year at peak is	2001
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Newsroom Diversity Index
for The Charlotte Observer
Year	Non-white % of newsroom staff	Non-white % of circulation area	Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005	16.3	27.2	60
2004	16.7	27.2	61
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 Charlotte Observer
This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 60.				This paper
				Peer group
Compare that with 64, which is the median Diversity Index for all newspapers
reporting in this circulation category of 100,001 to 250,000 daily sales.
In that group, this newspaper's Diversity Index ranks 32 out of 58
newspapers reporting in the category of 100,001 to 250,000 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 News & Observer, Raleigh, North Carolina, with a 21 percent non-white staff in a community that is 30.8 percent non-white. Its index is 68.
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of
approximately 226,082 ranks 45 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 Charlotte Observer
	Circulation area
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	4.6	88,809
Black	19.4	374,458
Asian and Pacific Islander	1.9	35,660
Native-American	0.3	6,510
Other non-white	0.1	1,964
Multi-racial	0.9	16,794
Non-white	27.2	524,195
White	72.8	1,402,320
Total		1,926,515
	Home county:  Mecklenburg
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	6.5	44,871
Black	27.7	192,403
Asian and Pacific Islander	3.2	22,000
Native-American	0.3	2,130
Other non-white	0.2	1,022
Multi-racial	1.1	7,884
Non-white	38.9	270,310
White	61.1	425,144
Total		695,454
The home county of this newspaper is Mecklenburg.
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 Charlotte Observer
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
28210 / Charlotte / NC / 6.9 mi.	8,209	18,493	44.4	$52,286	24.6	8.4	10.8	0.3	3.9
28226 / Charlotte / NC / 8.6 mi.	8,144	14,409	56.5	$68,636	13.3	3.1	5.3	0.2	3.6
28277 / Charlotte / NC / 12.2 mi.	8,097	12,843	63.0	$86,713	12.2	2.7	4.2	0.2	4.3
28211 / Charlotte / NC / 5.1 mi.	6,682	12,010	55.6	$62,371	18.6	3.3	11.9	0.2	2.2
28269 / Charlotte / NC / 6.5 mi.	6,507	16,114	40.4	$61,899	37.0	3.5	27.3	0.3	4.5
28078 / Huntersville / NC / 12.8 mi.	6,109	10,283	59.4	$70,400	14.1	3.7	7.9	0.4	1.5
28105 / Matthews / NC / 10.2 mi.	6,101	11,686	52.2	$65,111	15.2	3.5	7.8	0.3	2.7
28270 / Charlotte / NC / 9 mi.	5,881	9,803	60.0	$76,795	12.1	2.6	5.4	0.2	3.0
28205 / Charlotte / NC / 3.3 mi.	5,812	19,254	30.2	$34,240	58.6	12.6	39.5	0.4	4.1
28227 / Charlotte / NC / 9.5 mi.	5,620	15,130	37.1	$51,189	29.6	5.8	19.9	0.5	2.2
28215 / Charlotte / NC / 8.4 mi.	5,408	14,864	36.4	$46,729	58.3	8.7	44.8	0.3	2.9
28216 / Charlotte / NC / 6.2 mi.	4,730	10,982	43.1	$40,740	65.9	3.4	59.9	0.3	1.5
28208 / Charlotte / NC / 4.7 mi.	4,312	13,083	33.0	$27,576	81.3	5.7	71.3	0.5	2.6
28025 / Concord / NC / 20.8 mi.	4,282	15,681	27.3	$42,157	22.2	6.7	13.7	0.3	0.6
28209 / Charlotte / NC / 3.5 mi.	4,213	10,089	41.8	$46,175	23.1	9.9	9.3	0.4	2.6
28110 / Monroe / NC / 21.3 mi.	3,955	12,789	30.9	$45,402	27.1	10.8	14.6	0.3	0.6
28601 / Hickory / NC / 45.7 mi.	3,899	18,693	20.9	$42,046	15.8	6.8	4.9	0.2	3.0
28214 / Charlotte / NC / 7.7 mi.	3,764	7,912	47.6	$49,534	28.7	2.4	21.1	0.3	3.7
28117 / Mooresville / NC / 24.7 mi.	3,620	7,052	51.3	$65,926	4.9	1.1	1.6	0.3	1.3
28212 / Charlotte / NC / 6.2 mi.	3,526	14,878	23.7	$37,151	57.2	12.1	38.7	0.3	4.0
28027 / Concord / NC / 16.4 mi.	3,514	11,939	29.4	$50,424	17.8	5.3	10.0	0.3	1.3
28202 / Charlotte / NC / 0 mi.	3,256	2,446	133.1	$32,230	58.1	1.5	53.7	0.4	1.3
29720 / Lancaster / SC / 33.9 mi.	3,149	16,940	18.6	$33,919	32.1	1.9	29.0	0.2	0.3
28031 / Cornelius / NC / 17.9 mi.	3,130	5,733	54.6	$75,161	9.7	2.7	5.3	0.2	1.2
28104 / Matthews / NC / 13.8 mi.	2,947	6,625	44.5	$65,768	8.5