Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
The Gaston Gazette, Gastonia
Gastonia, North Carolina
Owner: Freedom Communications (Ca.)
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	5.7
2004	6.7
2003	3.0
2002	3.0
2001	0.0
2000	2.6
1999	2.9
1998	5.3
1997	2.6
1996	5.3
1995	2.8
1994	Did not report
1993	Did not report
1992	3.0
1991	2.9
1990	Did not report
The latest year at peak is	2004
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Newsroom Diversity Index
for The Gaston Gazette, Gastonia
Year	Non-white % of newsroom staff	Non-white % of circulation area	Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005	5.7	18.6	31
2004	6.7	18.6	36
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, Freedom Communications (Ca.),
has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 59.
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Peer group comparison
for The Gaston Gazette, Gastonia
This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 31.				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 104 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 The Jackson Sun, Tennessee, with a 37.5 percent non-white staff in a community that is 24.7 percent non-white. Its index is 152.
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of
approximately 31,349 ranks 325 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 Gaston Gazette, Gastonia
	Circulation area
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	2.8	6,293
Black	13.8	31,316
Asian and Pacific Islander	1.0	2,277
Native-American	0.3	580
Other non-white	0.1	197
Multi-racial	0.7	1,678
Non-white	18.6	42,341
White	81.4	185,331
Total		227,672
	Home county:  Gaston
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	3.0	5,719
Black	13.6	25,843
Asian and Pacific Islander	1.0	1,844
Native-American	0.3	495
Other non-white	0.1	156
Multi-racial	0.7	1,386
Non-white	18.6	35,443
White	81.4	154,922
Total		190,365
The home county of this newspaper is Gaston.
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 Gaston Gazette, Gastonia
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
28054 / Gastonia / NC / 0 mi.	6,624	13,849	47.8	$38,575	23.5	5.2	15.6	0.2	1.5
28052 / Gastonia / NC / 6.4 mi.	5,883	13,808	42.6	$31,421	37.4	4.7	31.1	0.2	0.5
28056 / Gastonia / NC / 4.6 mi.	3,485	10,190	34.2	$51,348	11.4	2.1	7.2	0.3	1.1
28012 / Belmont / NC / 6.4 mi.	2,694	7,469	36.1	$42,212	12.0	2.4	6.2	0.3	2.2
28016 / Bessemer City / NC / 8.4 mi.	1,954	5,505	35.5	$35,695	14.3	2.5	10.5	0.3	0.3
28034 / Dallas / NC / 6.4 mi.	1,861	5,479	34.0	$38,542	11.7	1.6	9.0	0.3	0.3
28120 / Mount Holly / NC / 8.2 mi.	1,668	6,260	26.6	$44,573	12.9	1.5	8.6	0.3	1.6
28086 / Kings Mountain / NC / 13.6 mi.	1,323	9,273	14.3	$37,560	20.2	1.5	16.1	0.2	1.5
28164 / Stanley / NC / 8.7 mi.	1,093	4,707	23.2	$41,447	9.6	0.7	7.6	0.4	0.3
28021 / Cherryville / NC / 14.6 mi.	1,047	4,950	21.2	$37,565	10.4	2.0	7.2	0.2	0.5
28092 / Lincolnton / NC / 16.6 mi.	996	13,266	7.5	$39,115	17.5	8.9	7.4	0.2	0.3
28032 / Cramerton / NC / 4.2 mi.	799	994	80.4	$39,800	5.4	0.9	1.8	0.5	1.2
29710 / Clover / SC / 12.3 mi.	705	8,463	8.3	$46,717	13.1	1.3	9.7	0.5	0.8
28080 / Iron Station / NC / 12.6 mi.	362	2,247	16.1	$41,238	12.8	1.9	9.6	0.4	0.3
28098 / Lowell / NC / 2.9 mi.	360	1,097	32.8	$34,602	8.6	1.1	5.7	0.3	0.7
28073 / Grover / NC / 18.5 mi.	229	1,737	13.2	$35,519	17.5	1.1	14.7	0.3	0.3
28077 / High Shoals / NC / 10.3 mi.	181	215	84.2	$29,732	15.1	2.2	12.2	0.0	0.0
28101 / Mc Adenville / NC / 4.3 mi.	165	194	85.1	$36,447	2.7	0.0	1.0	1.2	0.4
28150 / Shelby / NC / 26.4 mi.	149	11,283	1.3	$32,139	33.9	1.4	31.4	0.1	0.4
28168 / Vale / NC / 24.6 mi.	126	3,553	3.5	$40,467	7.3	1.7	4.1	0.2	0.7
File	nc_the_gaston_gazette__gastonia
Time	5/19/05 6:32 PM
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