Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
The Forum, Fargo
Fargo, North Dakota
Owner: Forum Communications (N.D.)
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	Did not report
2004	1.7
2003	0.0
2002	Did not report
2001	0.0
2000	0.0
1999	0.0
1998	0.0
1997	0.0
1996	0.0
1995	0.0
1994	0.0
1993	Did not report
1992	Did not report
1991	Did not report
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 Forum, Fargo
Year	Non-white % of newsroom staff	Non-white % of circulation area	Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005	N/A	6.3	N/A
2004	1.7	6.3	27
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, Forum Communications (N.D.),
has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 9.
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Peer group comparison
for The Forum, Fargo
	This paper
					Peer group
The median Diversity Index is 50 for all newspapers
reporting in this circulation category of 50,001 to 100,000 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 Lincoln Journal Star, Nebraska, with a 9.9 percent non-white staff in a community that is 8.3 percent non-white. Its index is 119.
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of
approximately 51,106 ranks 198 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 Forum, Fargo
	Circulation area
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	1.7	5,242
Black	0.5	1,509
Asian and Pacific Islander	0.8	2,426
Native-American	2.0	6,119
Other non-white	0.1	166
Multi-racial	1.2	3,713
Non-white	6.3	19,175
White	93.7	286,034
Total		305,209
	Home county:  Cass
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	1.2	1,518
Black	0.8	978
Asian and Pacific Islander	1.3	1,585
Native-American	1.0	1,277
Other non-white	0.1	96
Multi-racial	1.2	1,421
Non-white	5.6	6,875
White	94.4	116,263
Total		123,138
The home county of this newspaper is Cass.
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 Forum, Fargo
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
58103 / Fargo / ND / 2.3 mi.	9,034	21,644	41.7	$35,094	6.7	1.4	1.3	1.2	1.3
56560 / Moorhead / MN / 5 mi.	6,383	12,628	50.5	$36,629	9.2	4.2	0.7	1.7	1.2
58102 / Reiles Acres / ND / 5 mi.	5,528	13,198	41.9	$31,758	7.0	1.3	0.7	1.5	2.3
58078 / West Fargo / ND / 3.5 mi.	3,047	5,813	52.4	$44,120	4.3	1.4	0.4	1.0	0.3
58104 / Prairie Rose / ND / 1.8 mi.	2,204	5,698	38.7	$60,801	3.8	0.8	0.5	0.4	1.3
56501 / Detroit Lakes / MN / 44.2 mi.	1,381	6,247	22.1	$35,604	7.0	0.9	0.3	3.3	0.5
58072 / Valley City / ND / 51.2 mi.	977	3,538	27.6	$30,572	3.0	0.7	0.6	0.9	0.2
58075 / Wahpeton / ND / 37.2 mi.	928	3,828	24.2	$36,016	4.7	0.7	0.6	2.2	0.4
56549 / Rollag / MN / 23.7 mi.	715	1,524	46.9	$42,407	1.7	0.4	0.1	0.4	0.2
56537 / Fergus Falls / MN / 49 mi.	657	7,641	8.6	$36,245	2.9	0.8	0.5	0.6	0.5
58054 / Lisbon / ND / 44.5 mi.	566	1,364	41.5	$39,375	1.8	0.6	0.1	0.3	0.2
56514 / Downer / MN / 22.3 mi.	517	1,250	41.4	$38,214	1.3	0.6	0.1	0.3	0.1
56572 / Pelican Rapids / MN / 37.7 mi.	507	2,138	23.7	$36,667	14.9	10.6	0.4	0.7	1.7
56529 / Dilworth / MN / 7.4 mi.	473	1,174	40.3	$34,464	11.2	7.9	0.1	1.6	0.2
56510 / Lockhart / MN / 33.7 mi.	443	1,010	43.9	$32,194	4.3	2.3	0.0	0.6	0.7
58012 / Casselton / ND / 16.8 mi.	429	792	54.2	$41,750	2.1	0.6	0.1	0.2	0.4
58474 / Oakes / ND / 70.7 mi.	427	1,157	36.9	$31,179	3.6	2.0	0.1	0.1	0.8
56573 / Perham / MN / 58.3 mi.	414	2,246	18.4	$36,151	2.5	1.2	0.3	0.5	0.1
58401 / Woodbury / ND / 81.9 mi.	391	7,451	5.2	$33,592	3.5	1.1	0.3	1.0	0.5
56520 / Everdell / MN / 37.9 mi.	381	1,655	23.0	$38,199	3.4	1.6	0.1	0.5	0.2
58421 / Rose Hill / ND / 107.5 mi.	373	1,287	29.0	$32,500	1.1	0.2	0.1	0.5	0.0
58501 / Bismarck / ND / 173.4 mi.	363	18,100	2.0	$41,462	4.4	0.6	0.2	2.2	0.5
56557 / Mahnomen / MN / 49.7 mi.	332	1,085	30.6	$28,779	34.9	1.4	0.1	25.7	0.0
58045 / Kelso / ND / 38.2 mi.	328	924	35.5	$35,958	6.6	4.8	0.1	1.3	0.0
58041 / Hankinson / ND / 48.7 mi.	310	704	44.0	$31,759	4.1	1.3	0.0	1.9	0.2
56547 / Glyndon / MN / 12.4 mi.	308	838	36.8	$48,400	4.8	3.9	0.0	0.3	0.2