Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
The Bismarck Tribune
Bismarck, North Dakota
Owner: Lee Enterprises (Iowa)
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 3.7
2004 3.7
2003 3.6
2002 0.0
2001 Did not report
2000 Did not report
1999 2.9
1998 3.4
1997 0.0
1996 0.0
1995 0.0
1994 3.6
1993 3.6
1992 0.0
1991 0.0
1990 0.0
The latest year at peak is 2005
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Newsroom Diversity Index
for The Bismarck Tribune
Year Non-white % of newsroom staff Non-white % of circulation area Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005 3.7 6.4 58
2004 3.7 6.4 58
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, Lee Enterprises (Iowa),
has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 47.
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Peer group comparison
for The Bismarck Tribune
This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 58. 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 43 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 Herald & Review, Decatur, Illinois, with a 11.1 percent non-white staff in a community that is 11 percent non-white. Its index is 101.
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of
approximately 27,620 ranks 371 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 Bismarck Tribune
Circulation area
Race/ethnicity % of population Number of residents
Hispanic 0.7 1,183
Black 0.2 272
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.3 535
Native-American 4.4 7,238
Other non-white 0.0 45
Multi-racial 0.8 1,317
  Non-white 6.4 10,590
White 93.6 155,244
Total 165,834
Home county:  Burleigh
Race/ethnicity % of population Number of residents
Hispanic 0.7 468
Black 0.2 166
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.4 289
Native-American 3.2 2,236
Other non-white 0.0 21
Multi-racial 0.8 550
  Non-white 5.4 3,730
White 94.6 65,686
Total 69,416
The home county of this newspaper is Burleigh.
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 Bismarck Tribune
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
58501 / Bismarck / ND / 9.2 mi. 6,030 18,100 33.3 $41,462 4.4 0.6 0.2 2.2 0.5
58504 / Livona / ND / 8 mi. 4,560 8,377 54.4 $41,692 7.8 0.8 0.3 5.6 0.3
58554 / Saint Anthony / ND / 13.5 mi. 3,625 7,857 46.1 $39,510 5.1 0.7 0.2 2.7 0.3
58601 / New Hradec / ND / 96 mi. 771 7,651 10.1 $32,965 3.3 1.1 0.2 1.0 0.3
58545 / Pick City / ND / 57.4 mi. 504 1,354 37.2 $44,545 3.2 0.3 0.1 1.4 0.4
58523 / Beulah / ND / 61.6 mi. 497 1,483 33.5 $43,300 4.1 0.5 0.0 1.4 0.9
58577 / Washburn / ND / 40.5 mi. 332 713 46.6 $40,398 1.6 0.5 0.0 0.6 0.0
58563 / New Salem / ND / 35.7 mi. 278 816 34.1 $30,033 1.9 0.3 0.0 0.9 0.1
58538 / Fort Yates / ND / 42 mi. 264 622 42.4 $24,784 94.2 1.6 0.0 91.5 0.0
58552 / Temvik / ND / 34.4 mi. 264 926 28.5 $26,445 1.2 0.6 0.1 0.1 0.3
58801 / Williston / ND / 160.1 mi. 245 6,546 3.7 $31,990 8.5 1.1 0.1 4.8 0.2
58623 / Ladd / ND / 128.4 mi. 235 957 24.6 $32,872 1.6 0.9 0.0 0.2 0.0
58530 / Sanger / ND / 38.6 mi. 211 550 38.4 $38,654 3.4 0.4 0.1 1.7 0.0
58639 / Hettinger / ND / 101.4 mi. 198 843 23.5 $29,801 1.1 0.3 0.1 0.3 0.3
58579 / Wilton / ND / 28.6 mi. 177 494 35.8 $34,236 1.6 0.5 0.2 0.3 0.1
58631 / Glen Ullin / ND / 54.2 mi. 172 515 33.4 $28,563 1.2 0.0 0.0 0.4 0.4
58495 / Wishek / ND / 56.3 mi. 171 616 27.8 $31,186 2.1 1.2 0.0 0.1 0.1
58533 / Heil / ND / 57.6 mi. 158 449 35.2 $22,422 3.0 0.5 0.0 1.1 0.8
58482 / Steele / ND / 32.2 mi. 154 444 34.7 $27,083 0.4 0.0 0.2 0.2 0.0
58561 / Napoleon / ND / 40.4 mi. 154 493 31.2 $29,432 1.2 0.4 0.0 0.0 0.3
58646 / Mott / ND / 78.8 mi. 141 557 25.3 $28,750 0.8 0.2 0.3 0.1 0.2
58854 / Watford Cy / ND / 135.4 mi. 127 987 12.9 $30,102 4.1 0.7 0.1 2.4 0.0
58638 / Hebron / ND / 63.3 mi. 123 461 26.7 $23,879 4.0 1.6 0.1 0.7 0.6
58701 / South Prairie / ND / 101.2 mi. 119 10,779 1.1 $32,370 6.4 1.2 1.0 2.4 0.6
58575 / Turtle Lake / ND / 52.3 mi. 116 442 26.2 $29,211 0.9 0.1 0.0 0.5 0.2
58540 / White Shield / ND / 68.9 mi. 108 928 11.6 $31,285 12.6 1.3 0.0 9.0 0.2
58401 / Woodbury / ND / 85.3 mi. 105 7,451 1.4 $33,592 3.5 1.1 0.3 1.0 0.5
58463 / Pickardville / ND / 49.2 mi. 104 353 29.5 $21,250 1.1 0.4 0.0 0.5 0.0
58576 / Underwood / ND / 51.9 mi. 102 415 24.6 $34,286 2.6 0.2 0.0 1.0 0.0
58535 / Lark / ND / 32.3 mi. 98 271 36.2 $24,712 1.9 0.4 0.0 0.9 0.2
58413 / Venturia / ND / 71.2 mi. 96 585 16.4 $22,083 2.4 0.7 0.1 0.2 0.6
58529 / Leith / ND / 46.4 mi. 94 334 28.1 $21,027 4.1 0.8 0.0 1.9 0.0
58558 / Menoken / ND / 6 mi. 90 254 35.4 $45,938 1.0 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.1
58573 / Strasburg / ND / 34.1 mi. 90 332 27.1 $26,413 3.4 2.5 0.0 0.1 0.8
58640 / Killdeer / ND / 102.4 mi. 86 483 17.8 $33,828 5.3 0.7 0.0 3.7 0.1
58621 / Trotters / ND / 149.7 mi. 81 592 13.7 $29,323 1.5 0.8 0.0 0.2 0.1
58521 / Baldwin / ND / 17.2 mi. 75 194 38.7 $45,208 2.6 0.4 0.0 0.8 1.4
58544 / Hazelton / ND / 22 mi. 75 249 30.1 $25,000 1.5 1.5 0.0 0.0 0.0
58571 / Stanton / ND / 54.2 mi. 72 247 29.1 $42,813 3.6 0.2 0.0 1.1 0.7
58572 / Sterling / ND / 17.5 mi. 72 88 81.8 $38,750 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
58562 / New Leipzig / ND / 64.2 mi. 68 245 27.8 $29,625 0.4 0.0 0.0 0.4 0.0
58341 / Wellsburg / ND / 73.6 mi. 66 1,315 5.0 $33,355 1.4 0.4 0.1 0.3 0.3
58653 / Scranton / ND / 117.9 mi. 64 262 24.4 $31,912 0.6 0.3 0.0 0.2 0.0
58652 / Richardton / ND / 75.6 mi. 59 435 13.6 $32,772 1.2 0.3 0.1 0.6 0.1
57638 / White Butte / SD / 85.5 mi. 58 883 6.6 $28,458 4.7 0.3 0.7 2.2 0.4
58763 / Sanish / ND / 114.7 mi. 53 979 5.4 $28,568 70.1 1.9 0.1 64.6 0.2
58636 / Werner / ND / 85.1 mi. 52 300 17.3 $21,691 33.8 1.2 0.0 31.7 0.1
58494 / Wing / ND / 30 mi. 51 162 31.5 $25,781 2.0 0.6 0.0 0.8 0.0
58647 / Schefield / ND / 100.1 mi. 51 439 11.6 $29,125 2.0 0.3 0.0 0.6 0.2
58541 / Goldenvalley / ND / 73.5 mi. 50 185 27.0 $27,344 13.0 0.2 0.0 11.7 0.0
58622 / Fryburg / ND / 114.2 mi. 50 646 7.7 $28,424 2.7 0.9 0.1 0.2 0.3
58487 / Tappen / ND / 46.5 mi. 44 187 23.5 $28,917 2.6 1.6 0.4 0.0 0.4
58444 / Goodrich / ND / 53 mi. 42 140 30.0 $26,500 0.6 0.0 0.6 0.0 0.0
58559 / Mercer / ND / 47.3 mi. 41 119 34.5 $26,750 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
58488 / Tuttle / ND / 41.1 mi. 39 159 24.5 $20,500 0.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
58580 / Zap / ND / 68.3 mi. 39 132 29.5 $32,656 3.5 0.0 0.0 2.9 0.0
58568 / Selfridge / ND / 53.2 mi. 38 213 17.8 $22,426 48.8 1.1 0.0 46.5 0.2
58532 / Driscoll / ND / 22.6 mi. 34 126 27.0 $22,083 2.1 0.0 0.3 0.6 0.0
58418 / Heaton / ND / 58.5 mi. 33 189 17.5 $25,625 2.1 1.6 0.2 0.0 0.0
58520 / Almont / ND / 40.8 mi. 31 117 26.5 $25,000 3.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.3
58570 / Timmer / ND / 30.4 mi. 31 122 25.4 $35,893 29.8 1.1 0.0 28.6 0.0
58650 / Regent / ND / 90.2 mi. 31 196 15.8 $30,481 1.2 0.6 0.0 0.6 0.0
58703 / Minot / ND / 103.6 mi. 31 7,167 0.4 $36,461 7.6 1.5 1.4 2.6 0.7
58478 / Robinson / ND / 49.6 mi. 30 89 33.7 $27,292 1.1 0.6 0.0 0.0 0.0
58505 / Bismarck / ND / 8.8 mi. 29 1 2900.0 $0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
58565 / Riverdale / ND / 59.7 mi. 28 112 25.0 $45,000 3.5 0.0 0.0 2.1 0.7
58649 / Reeder / ND / 110.2 mi. 27 181 14.9 $24,643 1.0 0.0 0.0 0.5 0.0
58524 / Braddock / ND / 18 mi. 26 56 46.4 $25,938 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
58528 / Cannonball / ND / 22.6 mi. 25 197 12.7 $19,265 94.7 2.1 0.0 92.4 0.1
58531 / Coleharbor / ND / 52.4 mi. 25 145 17.2 $37,917 1.4 0.3 0.0 0.8 0.0
58560 / Moffit / ND / 15.8 mi. 25 60 41.7 $36,875 0.6 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.6
58428 / Dawson / ND / 38.2 mi. 24 126 19.0 $21,042 0.3 0.3 0.0 0.0 0.0
58645 / Medora / ND / 123.9 mi. 23 111 20.7 $33,333 1.2 0.4 0.0 0.0 0.0
58301 / Devils Lake / ND / 117.7 mi. 9 4,105 0.2 $35,912 9.1 0.5 0.2 6.3 0.3
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