Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
The Buffalo News
Buffalo, New York
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	10.9
2004	11.4
2003	12.1
2002	11.4
2001	10.3
2000	Did not report
1999	Did not report
1998	Did not report
1997	Did not report
1996	Did not report
1995	5.5
1994	6.1
1993	3.0
1992	3.0
1991	4.1
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 The Buffalo News
Year	Non-white % of newsroom staff	Non-white % of circulation area	Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005	10.9	16.5	66
2004	11.4	16.5	69
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.)
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Peer group comparison
for The Buffalo News
This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 66.				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 26 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 196,429 ranks 51 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 Buffalo News
	Circulation area
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	3.0	39,239
Black	10.5	139,294
Asian and Pacific Islander	1.2	16,088
Native-American	0.7	9,102
Other non-white	0.1	1,251
Multi-racial	1.1	14,075
Non-white	16.5	219,049
White	83.5	1,109,606
Total		1,328,655
	Home county:  Erie
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	3.3	31,054
Black	12.8	121,289
Asian and Pacific Islander	1.5	13,915
Native-American	0.6	5,354
Other non-white	0.1	940
Multi-racial	1.1	10,237
Non-white	19.2	182,789
White	80.8	767,476
Total		950,265
The home county of this newspaper is Erie.
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 Buffalo News
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
14221 / Williamsville / NY / 7.4 mi.	11,739	20,627	56.9	$60,494	7.9	1.0	2.1	0.1	3.8
14224 / West Seneca / NY / 3.9 mi.	8,991	16,064	56.0	$47,692	2.5	0.8	0.5	0.1	0.5
14150 / Tonawanda / NY / 8.1 mi.	8,919	18,857	47.3	$40,064	4.5	1.1	1.2	0.3	1.2
14225 / Cheektowaga / NY / 3.9 mi.	8,635	15,672	55.1	$35,372	4.8	1.0	2.1	0.2	0.6
14075 / Hamburg / NY / 9.7 mi.	8,588	16,442	52.2	$48,923	2.7	1.2	0.4	0.2	0.4
14226 / Snyder Square / NY / 5.8 mi.	6,162	12,555	49.1	$46,380	13.1	1.6	5.8	0.2	4.1
14043 / Lancaster / NY / 5.2 mi.	5,835	10,789	54.1	$43,908	2.9	0.8	0.8	0.2	0.5
14127 / Orchard Park / NY / 8.2 mi.	5,739	10,304	55.7	$60,141	3.2	1.0	0.5	0.1	1.1
14086 / Lancaster / NY / 8.9 mi.	5,711	10,659	53.6	$52,303	2.3	0.6	0.7	0.2	0.4
14120 / Wheatfield / NY / 12.5 mi.	5,616	17,195	32.7	$43,091	2.8	1.0	0.4	0.3	0.5
14094 / Pendleton / NY / 19.1 mi.	5,378	20,409	26.4	$40,836	7.8	1.5	4.1	0.4	0.7
14223 / Town of Tonawanda / NY / 6 mi.	5,046	9,971	50.6	$43,648	4.9	1.3	1.3	0.2	1.2
14227 / South Cheektowaga / NY / 3.1 mi.	4,649	10,388	44.8	$41,358	4.4	0.9	1.7	0.1	1.1
14206 / West Seneca / NY / 0.2 mi.	4,641	10,270	45.2	$27,645	12.5	1.5	9.1	0.3	0.5
14217 / Town of Tonawanda / NY / 6.5 mi.	4,579	10,779	42.5	$39,777	4.0	1.2	1.1	0.3	0.7
14220 / West Seneca / NY / 2.4 mi.	4,512	10,478	43.1	$35,839	7.3	4.5	0.9	0.5	0.6
14215 / Cheektowaga / NY / 3.4 mi.	3,985	17,420	22.9	$27,338	77.9	2.3	71.6	0.2	1.8
14207 / Town of Tonawanda / NY / 5.9 mi.	3,730	9,832	37.9	$24,027	19.8	8.6	6.0	1.7	1.1
14216 / Buffalo / NY / 4.9 mi.	3,534	10,912	32.4	$34,338	17.2	4.1	9.5	0.6	1.3
14072 / Grand Island / NY / 11 mi.	3,452	6,898	50.0	$60,432	5.0	1.1	1.7	0.2	1.2
14051 / Swormville / NY / 10.5 mi.	3,342	6,119	54.6	$88,317	8.6	0.9	1.5	0.1	5.3
14218 / West Seneca / NY / 4 mi.	3,177	8,626	36.8	$30,282	17.5	4.8	8.7	0.4	0.3
14228 / West Amherst / NY / 10.4 mi.	3,163	7,552	41.9	$43,048	16.5	1.8	5.7	0.1	7.4
14203 / Buffalo / NY / 2.7 mi.	3,125	456	685.3	$9,400	74.5	5.8	65.6	1.1	0.1
14052 / East Aurora / NY / 13.6 mi.	2,998	6,900	43.4	$52,395	1.6	0.6	0.2