Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
Omaha World-Herald
Omaha, Nebraska
Owner: Omaha World-Herald
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	6.5
2004	6.7
2003	6.8
2002	Did not report
2001	6.1
2000	5.1
1999	4.3
1998	4.6
1997	5.4
1996	5.5
1995	5.2
1994	5.1
1993	4.5
1992	4.3
1991	Did not report
1990	Did not report
The latest year at peak is	2003
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Newsroom Diversity Index
for Omaha World-Herald
Year	Non-white % of newsroom staff	Non-white % of circulation area	Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005	6.5	12.1	54
2004	6.7	12.1	55
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, Omaha World-Herald,
has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 61.
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Peer group comparison
for Omaha World-Herald
This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 54.				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 37 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 Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio, with a 20.8 percent non-white staff in a community that is 11.8 percent non-white. Its index is 177.
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of
approximately 192,607 ranks 52 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 Omaha World-Herald
	Circulation area
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	5.0	69,508
Black	4.5	61,697
Asian and Pacific Islander	1.0	14,384
Native-American	0.6	7,594
Other non-white	0.1	966
Multi-racial	1.0	13,516
Non-white	12.1	167,665
White	87.9	1,214,925
Total		1,382,590
	Home county:  Douglas
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	6.7	30,928
Black	11.4	52,821
Asian and Pacific Islander	1.7	8,061
Native-American	0.5	2,411
Other non-white	0.1	512
Multi-racial	1.4	6,324
Non-white	21.8	101,057
White	78.2	362,528
Total		463,585
The home county of this newspaper is Douglas.
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
Omaha World-Herald
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
68134 / Omaha / NE / 6.4 mi.	5,884	12,111	48.6	$43,294	13.7	2.5	7.3	0.3	2.2
68144 / Omaha / NE / 9.7 mi.	5,870	10,061	58.3	$56,331	6.5	2.4	1.4	0.2	1.5
68154 / Omaha / NE / 9.6 mi.	5,681	9,851	57.7	$58,373	7.8	1.8	2.2	0.2	2.6
68137 / Omaha / NE / 10.3 mi.	5,465	9,351	58.4	$58,173	6.5	2.7	1.2	0.2	1.4
68114 / Omaha / NE / 6 mi.	5,441	8,256	65.9	$41,851	9.4	2.0	3.2	0.3	2.9
68164 / Omaha / NE / 9.2 mi.	5,097	9,844	51.8	$58,983	12.3	2.1	5.8	0.3	2.7
68127 / Omaha / NE / 7.2 mi.	4,531	9,982	45.4	$45,141	11.8	5.1	2.3	0.3	3.0
68104 / Omaha / NE / 4.1 mi.	4,520	14,044	32.2	$36,298	33.8	3.2	27.0	0.6	1.0
68124 / Omaha / NE / 6.3 mi.	4,443	6,471	68.7	$51,417	6.6	2.0	1.9	0.2	1.7
68106 / Omaha / NE / 3.8 mi.	4,402	9,402	46.8	$39,834	8.5	3.4	2.2	0.3	1.9
68025 / Fremont / NE / 34.5 mi.	3,954	11,765	33.6	$38,312	6.2	4.2	0.5	0.2	0.6
68005 / Bellevue / NE / 8.9 mi.	3,819	9,406	40.6	$44,542	16.6	5.1	6.2	0.5	2.5
68046 / Papillion / NE / 11.7 mi.	3,565	6,539	54.5	$65,939	8.0	2.8	2.2	0.3	1.4
68102 / Omaha / NE / 0 mi.	3,544	2,373	149.3	$20,510	39.6	8.9	22.1	1.4	4.7
51503 / Council Bluffs / IA / 7.5 mi.	3,211	13,048	24.6	$44,101	4.3	2.3	0.6	0.2	0.5
68107 / Omaha / NE / 3.8 mi.	3,121	9,485	32.9	$31,067	44.3	34.7	6.3	0.9	0.7
68105 / Omaha / NE / 2.1 mi.	3,055	10,045	30.4	$30,851	29.0	20.0	5.0	1.1	1.4
68123 / Bellevue / NE / 11.1 mi.	3,042	8,277	36.8	$54,692	19.8	5.2	8.3	0.4	2.9
68135 / Omaha / NE / 14.1 mi.	2,949	3,848	76.6	$90,263	4.5	1.3	0.3	0.1	2.1
68130 / Omaha / NE / 13.2 mi.	2,804	3,692	75.9	$80,602	4.4	1.4	0.9	0.2	1.4
68601 / Columbus / NE / 71.7 mi.	2,593	10,499	24.7	$40,161	9.2	7.6	0.3	0.3	0.4
68132 / Omaha / NE / 3.5 mi.	2,577	6,146	41.9	$36,765	15.3	4.4	5.8	0.4	2.6
51501 / Council Bluffs / IA / 5.2 mi.	2,500	13,346	18.7	$34,139	9.1	5.6	1.3	0.4	0.6
68701 / Norfolk / NE / 94.8 mi.	2,318	11,698	19.8	$36,179	10.3	6.9	1.1	1.2	0.4
68131 / Omaha / NE / 1.5 mi.	2,198	5,745	38.3