The Grand Island Independent... Racial diversity of its news staff and community

Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists

at America's daily newspapers

with the communities that they serve

Newsroom diversity report for

The Grand Island Independent

Grand Island, Nebraska

Owner: Morris Communications (Ga.)

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

0.0

2004

0.0

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

0.0

1992

0.0

1991

0.0

1990

Did not report

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 Grand Island Independent

Year

Non-white % of newsroom staff

Non-white % of circulation area

Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)

2005

0.0

9.8

2004

0.0

9.5

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, Morris Communications (Ga.),

has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 21.

See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.

Peer group comparison

for The Grand Island Independent

This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 0.

This paper

Peer group

Compare that with 33, which is the median Diversity Index for all newspapers

reporting in this circulation category of 10,001 to 25,000 daily sales.

In that group, this newspaper's Diversity Index ranks 159 out of 259

newspapers reporting in the category of 10,001 to 25,000 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 Herald, Sharon, Pennsylvania, with a 8 percent non-white staff in a community that is 7.3 percent non-white. Its index is 110.

FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of

approximately 22,147 ranks 431 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 Grand Island Independent

Circulation area

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

7.9

8,347

Black

0.2

251

Asian and Pacific Islander

0.6

663

Native-American

0.2

239

Other non-white

0.0

Multi-racial

0.5

497

Non-white

9.5

10,041

White

90.5

95,308

Total

105,349

Home county: Hall

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

14.0

7,497

Black

0.3

159

Asian and Pacific Islander

1.1

591

Native-American

0.3

132

Other non-white

0.1

Multi-racial

0.6

309

Non-white

16.3

8,716

White

83.7

44,818

Total

53,534

The home county of this newspaper is Hall.

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 Grand Island Independent

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

68801 / Hall County Regi / NE / 1 mi.

6,343

10,336

61.4

$35,494

23.3

20.5

0.4

1.3

68803 / Grand Island / NE / 1.7 mi.

5,820

7,972

73.0

$38,555

10.2

8.1

0.3

0.2

1.1

68818 / Stockham / NE / 17.2 mi.

795

2,051

38.8

$38,889

2.3

1.3

0.2

0.1

0.3

68826 / Riverside Park / NE / 21.4 mi.

758

1,550

48.9

$34,831

2.1

1.0

0.3

0.1

0.3

68873 / Saint Paul / NE / 20.4 mi.

741

1,380

53.7

$33,041

1.6

0.8

0.2

0.3

0.2

68862 / Springdale / NE / 52.7 mi.

522

1,342

38.9

$29,329

2.7

1.6

0.0

0.5

0.1

68883 / Wood River / NE / 13.4 mi.

506

852

59.4

$38,464

8.8

8.3

0.1

0.0

0.2

68832 / South Platte / NE / 8.9 mi.

424

685

61.9

$45,398

1.6

1.4

0.0

0.1

68853 / Webster / NE / 38.2 mi.

350

690

50.7

$26,512

2.0

0.9

0.1

0.2

0.4

68869 / Sweetwater / NE / 28.2 mi.

333

897

37.1

$31,354

1.5

0.8

0.0

0.2

68823 / Burwell / NE / 67.8 mi.

314

958

32.8

$26,750

1.6

0.9

0.0

0.2

0.1

68901 / West Blue / NE / 20.8 mi.

306

10,378

2.9

$36,886

8.8

5.2

0.7

0.4

1.9

68638 / Fullerton / NE / 34.5 mi.

286

740

38.6

$30,625

3.0

1.9

0.0

0.4

0.1

68824 / South Loup / NE / 14 mi.

274

509

53.8

$36,250

2.1

2.0

0.1

0.0

68864 / Palmer / NE / 17.9 mi.

226

443

51.0

$32,596

1.5

1.4

0.0

0.1

68822 / Broken Bow / NE / 70.3 mi.

200

2,015

9.9

$31,777

2.0

0.7

0.1

0.5

0.1

68810 / Alda / NE / 5.6 mi.

191

310

61.6

$36,181

7.1

5.8

0.4

0.2

0.1

68842 / Greeley / NE / 42.2 mi.

183

293

62.5

$30,417

1.1

0.1

0.0

0.3

68872 / Worms / NE / 11.2 mi.

182

328

55.5

$36,442

2.7

2.0

0.1

0.4

0.0

68876 / Shelton / NE / 20.4 mi.

173

646

26.8

$37,772

13.8

12.8

0.6

0.2

0.0

68665 / Spalding / NE / 50.9 mi.

168

384

43.8

$30,833

1.2

1.0

0.1

0.0

68831 / Nysted / NE / 16.9 mi.

145

316

45.9

$37,361

2.5

1.3

0.2

68874 / West Union / NE / 68.3 mi.

141

437

32.3

$27,011

2.6

1.8

0.0

0.5

0.2

68875 / Scotia / NE / 39.8 mi.

140

265

52.8

$25,909

4.8

1.5

2.4

0.3

0.0

68827 / Vieregg / NE / 9.2 mi.

138

292

47.3

$38,056

2.4

1.8

0.1

0.0

68865 / Phillips / NE / 6.7 mi.

135

349

38.7

$41,813

2.3

2.0

0.0

68843 / Hampton / NE / 22.8 mi.

128

330

38.8

$45,536

1.3

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.1

68620 / Boone / NE / 52.4 mi.

125

1,290

9.7

$32,875

1.3

0.9

0.0

0.1

68882 / Wolbach / NE / 36 mi.

124

195

63.6

$27,500

2.2

1.5

0.0

68815 / Yale / NE / 51.7 mi.

123

291

42.3

$27,143

1.9

1.4

0.3

0.0

0.1

68859 / North Loup / NE / 39.8 mi.

122

253

48.2

$23,750

2.9

2.4

0.0

68628 / Clarks / NE / 32.9 mi.

121

364

33.2

$32,039

1.5

1.0

0.1

0.0

68627 / Cedar Rapids / NE / 42.9 mi.

120

324

37.0

$28,359

0.8

0.6

0.0

68854 / Marquette / NE / 17.8 mi.

119

297

40.1

$36,063

1.5

1.0

0.0

0.1

68841 / Giltner / NE / 15.8 mi.

113

244

46.3

$43,500

2.2

0.9

0.0

0.1

68835 / Elba / NE / 26.9 mi.

103

129

79.8

$33,750

6.4

2.4

2.7

0.0

68654 / Polk / NE / 29.4 mi.

266

36.8

$33,182

1.1

1.0

0.0

0.2

0.0

68820 / Boelus / NE / 21.2 mi.

181

50.8

$27,250

1.5

0.7

0.0

0.2

68817 / Schaupps / NE / 33.9 mi.

193

45.6

$31,111

1.7

0.2

0.0

0.2

68838 / Farwell / NE / 25.7 mi.

157

47.8

$29,659

1.9

1.4

0.2

0.0

68846 / Hordville / NE / 25.2 mi.

117

53.0

$45,833

0.6

0.0

68840 / Newark / NE / 26.2 mi.

1,017

6.0

$36,500

15.6

14.8

0.1

68852 / Litchfield / NE / 41.8 mi.

241

24.9

$31,691

1.7

1.5

0.0

0.2

68879 / Taylor / NE / 83.8 mi.

182

33.0

$26,731

1.6

0.7

0.0

0.5

0.2

68847 / Kearney / NE / 38.3 mi.

5,930

0.9

$35,084

6.8

4.7

0.4

0.3

0.6

68871 / Rockville / NE / 28.1 mi.

109

51.4

$33,393

1.2

0.0

68814 / Myrtle / NE / 54.6 mi.

323

13.9

$28,317

1.3

1.0

0.0

0.3

0.0

68640 / Genoa / NE / 45.8 mi.

650

6.2

$32,375

1.6

0.6

0.0

0.2

0.1

68666 / Stromsburg / NE / 39.1 mi.

659

5.9

$37,794

1.1

0.5

0.0

0.1

68663 / Silver Creek / NE / 42.3 mi.

353

10.8

$35,956

0.5

0.1

0.0

68637 / Ericson / NE / 59.3 mi.

156

23.1

$26,184

1.3

0.8

0.0

0.5

0.0

68623 / Belgrade / NE / 36.1 mi.

139

25.2

$28,438

0.0

68816 / Midland / NE / 20.6 mi.

40.0

$41,136

5.7

4.4

0.0

0.4

68828 / Geranium / NE / 61.6 mi.

143

21.0

$26,042

2.4

1.5

0.0

68955 / Juniata / NE / 21.9 mi.

571

5.3

$38,409

1.6

1.0

0.0

0.1

68467 / York / NE / 37.3 mi.

3,801

0.7

$36,806

4.8

1.8

1.3

0.3

0.6

68855 / Mason City / NE / 49.5 mi.

181

14.4

$29,875

3.5

1.1

0.0

1.3

0.0

68371 / Lushton / NE / 27.6 mi.

634

3.9

$39,038

1.6

0.8

0.1

0.2

0.4

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