Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
The New York Times
New York, New York
Owner: New York Times Co.
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 16.7
2004 16.7
2003 17.1
2002 16.1
2001 16.2
2000 16.2
1999 15.6
1998 15.1
1997 15.6
1996 14.5
1995 13.7
1994 14.8
1993 14.1
1992 14.2
1991 13.1
1990 11.8
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 New York Times
Year Non-white % of newsroom staff Non-white % of circulation area Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005 16.7 30.9 54
2004 16.7 30.9 54
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, New York Times Co.,
has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 69.
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Peer group comparison
for The New York Times
This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 54. This paper
Peer group
Compare that with 46, which is the median Diversity Index for all newspapers
reporting in this circulation category of more than 500,000 daily sales.
In that group, this newspaper's Diversity Index ranks 3 out of 10
newspapers reporting in the category of more than 500,000 daily sales.
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of
approximately 1,121,057 ranks 3 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 New York Times
Circulation area
Race/ethnicity % of population Number of residents
Hispanic 12.5 35,305,818
Black 12.1 33,947,837
Asian and Pacific Islander 3.7 10,476,678
Native-American 0.7 2,068,883
Other non-white 0.2 467,770
Multi-racial 1.6 4,602,146
  Non-white 30.9 86,869,132
White 69.1 194,552,774
Total 281,421,906
Home county:  New York
Race/ethnicity % of population Number of residents
Hispanic 27.2 417,816
Black 15.3 234,698
Asian and Pacific Islander 9.4 143,863
Native-American 0.2 2,465
Other non-white 0.4 5,536
Multi-racial 1.9 28,944
  Non-white 54.2 833,322
White 45.8 703,873
Total 1,537,195
The home county of this newspaper is New York.
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: US population for a national newspaper. 
  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.
      
File ny_the_new_york_times
Time 5/17/05 6:29 PM
Page 3
Member 130600