Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
The Courier News, Bridgewater
Bridgewater, New Jersey
Owner: Gannett Co. (Va.)
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	12.8
2004	11.4
2003	13.3
2002	13.6
2001	12.5
2000	21.2
1999	16.7
1998	14.0
1997	16.9
1996	13.2
1995	11.3
1994	11.3
1993	10.0
1992	4.5
1991	Did not report
1990	Did not report
The latest year at peak is	2000
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Newsroom Diversity Index
for The Courier News, Bridgewater
Year	Non-white % of newsroom staff	Non-white % of circulation area	Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005	12.8	33.0	39
2004	11.4	32.6	35
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, Gannett Co. (Va.),
has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 89.
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Peer group comparison
for The Courier News, Bridgewater
This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 39.				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 83 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 Longview News-Journal, Texas, with a 23.1 percent non-white staff in a community that is 28.4 percent non-white. Its index is 81.
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of
approximately 40,098 ranks 262 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 Courier News, Bridgewater
	Circulation area
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	10.4	42,514
Black	12.5	50,883
Asian and Pacific Islander	8.0	32,558
Native-American	0.1	430
Other non-white	0.2	839
Multi-racial	1.4	5,676
Non-white	32.6	132,900
White	67.4	275,257
Total		408,157
	Home county:  Somerset
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	8.7	25,811
Black	7.3	21,571
Asian and Pacific Islander	8.4	24,961
Native-American	0.1	229
Other non-white	0.2	565
Multi-racial	1.3	3,769
Non-white	25.9	76,906
White	74.2	220,584
Total		297,490
The home county of this newspaper is Somerset.
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 Courier News, Bridgewater
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
08807 / Bridgewater / NJ / 0 mi.	4,878	13,212	36.9	$86,517	20.0	4.9	2.3	0.0	11.5
08876 / South Branch / NJ / 2.9 mi.	4,021	15,872	25.3	$68,213	25.1	8.9	6.5	0.1	7.9
07060 / Plainfield / NJ / 9.8 mi.	3,316	16,161	20.5	$51,406	69.0	29.9	33.1	0.2	3.5
07080 / South Plainfield / NJ / 10.2 mi.	2,251	7,146	31.5	$67,487	27.1	8.6	8.3	0.2	7.5
08846 / Middlesex / NJ / 6.1 mi.	1,796	5,048	35.6	$60,723	17.6	9.0	3.2	0.1	4.1
08822 / Flemington / NJ / 12.2 mi.	1,753	10,368	16.9	$77,639	9.3	3.7	1.3	0.1	3.1
08854 / Piscataway / NJ / 8.3 mi.	1,738	16,507	10.5	$68,709	55.1	7.9	19.8	0.2	24.8
08835 / Manville / NJ / 3.7 mi.	1,624	4,120	39.4	$51,258	7.9	5.4	0.4	0.1	1.3
08812 / Green Brook / NJ / 6.9 mi.	1,415	4,374	32.4	$67,377	19.8	9.9	3.2	0.1	5.5
08805 / Bound Brook / NJ / 4.3 mi.	1,374	4,296	32.0	$50,634	37.0	30.7	2.0	0.2	3.1
07062 / Plainfield / NJ / 11.1 mi.	1,371	4,561	30.1	$52,568	81.9	16.5	61.9	0.2	1.3
08502 / Belle Mead / NJ / 8.1 mi.	1,218	5,898	20.7	$114,854	15.9	2.4	2.2	0.1	10.2
08873 / Zarepath / NJ / 8 mi.	1,052	15,441	6.8	$68,047	49.9	8.8	27.5	0.1	11.1
08869 / Raritan / NJ / 1.5 mi.	1,009	2,584	39.0	$51,278	18.7	8.4	0.7	0.1	8.5
07059 / Warren / NJ / 6.1 mi.	900	4,616	19.5	$103,825	16.4	3.1	1.2	0.0	10.7
07063 / Plainfield / NJ / 8.6 mi.	678	3,698	18.3	$53,373	79.3	18.7	57.0	0.1	1.9
08853 / Neshanic Station / NJ / 7 mi.	668	3,903	17.1	$100,432	10.3	2.3	1.9	0.1	4.9
08836 / Martinsville / NJ / 3.2 mi.	659	1,393	47.3	$113,639	9.1	2.0	0.7	0.0	5.7
08889 / Whitehouse Station / NJ / 6.8 mi.	549	3,397	16.2	$95,476	6.3	2.1	0.8	0.0	2.4
07076 / Scotch Plains / NJ / 12.2 mi.	539	7,216	7.5	$78,742	26.0	4.2	12.4	0.1	7.8
08833 / Lebanon / NJ / 10.7 mi.	530	2,957	17.9	$100,816	5.3	1.5	0.8	0.1	2.3
07920 / Basking Ridge / NJ / 6.5 mi.	527	9,300	5.7	$105,471	13.0	2.6	1.4	0.0	7.8
08880 / South Bound Brook / NJ / 5 mi.	522	1,632	32.0	$48,984	36.6	22.9	7.7	0.1	4.1
08809 / Clinton / NJ / 15.5 mi.	326	2,047	15.9	$68,889	21.4	5.5	12.2	0.3	2.3
07921 / Bedminster / NJ / 4.5 mi.	306	4,063	7.5	$71,219	13.4	3.8	1.8	0.1	6.6
07090 / Westfield / NJ / 14 mi.	292