Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
Rochester, New York
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	15.3
2004	15.6
2003	14.8
2002	13.0
2001	13.1
2000	11.6
1999	15.6
1998	16.7
1997	16.3
1996	13.6
1995	11.4
1994	12.4
1993	13.0
1992	7.4
1991	8.0
1990	8.7
The latest year at peak is	1998
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Newsroom Diversity Index
for Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
Year	Non-white % of newsroom staff	Non-white % of circulation area	Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005	15.3	17.9	86
2004	15.6	17.9	87
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 Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 86.				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 13 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 Detroit News, Michigan, with a 26.2 percent non-white staff in a community that is 21.6 percent non-white. Its index is 121.
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of
approximately 166,727 ranks 66 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 Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
	Circulation area
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	4.4	47,207
Black	10.0	108,343
Asian and Pacific Islander	1.8	19,866
Native-American	0.2	2,463
Other non-white	0.1	1,147
Multi-racial	1.3	14,229
Non-white	17.9	193,255
White	82.1	886,828
Total		1,080,083
	Home county:  Monroe
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	5.3	39,065
Black	13.4	98,174
Asian and Pacific Islander	2.4	17,938
Native-American	0.2	1,645
Other non-white	0.1	863
Multi-racial	1.5	10,895
Non-white	22.9	168,580
White	77.1	566,763
Total		735,343
The home county of this newspaper is Monroe.
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
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
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
14580 / Webster / NY / 8 mi.	9,740	16,838	57.8	$59,192	6.1	1.5	1.7	0.1	2.0
14450 / Fairport / NY / 9.4 mi.	8,864	15,660	56.6	$67,483	7.1	1.4	1.8	0.1	2.8
14624 / Westgate / NY / 6.1 mi.	8,127	14,321	56.7	$54,319	10.3	1.9	5.8	0.2	1.2
14534 / Pittsford / NY / 7.1 mi.	7,203	10,887	66.2	$87,126	9.5	1.3	2.2	0.1	5.0
14626 / Rochester / NY / 5.8 mi.	6,662	11,405	58.4	$50,217	8.3	2.5	3.0	0.2	1.9
14612 / Rochester / NY / 7.1 mi.	6,543	13,844	47.3	$51,888	7.6	2.3	2.9	0.2	1.2
14616 / Rochester / NY / 5.5 mi.	5,537	11,241	49.3	$40,043	8.9	3.0	3.1	0.3	1.2
14609 / Rochester / NY / 2.6 mi.	5,504	17,675	31.1	$35,216	40.2	10.2	26.4	0.3	0.9
14618 / Rochester / NY / 3.4 mi.	5,465	8,649	63.2	$66,093	10.0	1.7	2.3	0.1	4.9
14617 / Rochester / NY / 4.4 mi.	5,439	9,457	57.5	$53,929	5.8	1.9	1.9	0.1	1.0
14623 / Rochester / NY / 4.7 mi.	4,912	8,976	54.7	$42,036	22.6	3.6	7.2	0.2	9.5
14606 / Rochester / NY / 3.9 mi.	4,337	11,254	38.5	$37,707	29.4	8.1	14.8	0.3	3.8
14526 / Penfield / NY / 7.2 mi.	4,284	7,353	58.3	$66,982	7.9	1.4	2.0	0.1	3.4
14620 / Rochester / NY / 1.5 mi.	3,904	11,530	33.9	$30,776	29.2	5.1	13.6	0.4	7.5
14621 / Rochester / NY / 1.9 mi.	3,527	13,602	25.9	$22,107	73.6	26.4	41.5	0.3	2.2
14615 / Rochester / NY / 3.8 mi.	3,420	7,029	48.7	$36,580	23.5	7.3	11.9	0.2	1.9
14610 / Rochester / NY / 3 mi.	3,353	6,962	48.2	$44,814	11.1	2.5	5.5	0.2	1.7
14559 / Spencerport / NY / 9.7 mi.	2,995	5,839	51.3	$57,289	4.2	1.6	0.9	0.2	0.7
14622 / Rochester / NY / 4.5 mi.	2,779	5,241	53.0	$42,182	6.0	2.1	2.2	0.2	0.8
14468 / Hilton / NY / 12.4 mi.	2,671	5,754	46.4	$54,589	3.8	1.0	1.2	0.3	0.6
14625 / Rochester / NY / 4.9 mi.	2,656	4,510	58.9	$60,428	6.1	1.4	1.5	0.1	2.3
14614 / Rochester / NY / 0 mi.	2,625	20	13125.0	$8,750	64.0	1.0	62.6	0.1	0.2
14420 / Brockport / NY / 15.5 mi.	2,597	6,471	40.1	$46,559	8.2	2.7	3.1	0.2	1.0
14424 / Canandaigua / NY / 24.7 mi.	2,411	9,922	24.3	$43,308	3.9	1.1	1.0	0.2	0.6
14564 / Victor / NY / 14.2 mi.	2,039	3,664	55.6	$58,433	4.5