Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
The Akron Beacon Journal
Akron, Ohio
Owner: Knight Ridder (Calif.)
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	20.8
2004	19.8
2003	17.7
2002	16.7
2001	12.5
2000	16.5
1999	20.1
1998	21.1
1997	21.6
1996	19.9
1995	19.3
1994	18.9
1993	17.4
1992	14.4
1991	14.4
1990	15.0
The latest year at peak is	1997
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Newsroom Diversity Index
for The Akron Beacon Journal
Year	Non-white % of newsroom staff	Non-white % of circulation area	Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005	20.8	11.8	177
2004	19.8	11.7	169
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, Knight Ridder (Calif.),
has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 76.
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Peer group comparison
for The Akron Beacon Journal
This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 177.				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 1 out of 58
newspapers reporting in the category of 100,001 to 250,000 daily sales.
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of
approximately 135,002 ranks 83 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 Akron Beacon Journal
	Circulation area
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	0.8	7,635
Black	8.4	76,333
Asian and Pacific Islander	1.1	10,263
Native-American	0.2	1,614
Other non-white	0.1	894
Multi-racial	1.1	10,295
Non-white	11.7	107,034
White	88.3	805,122
Total		912,156
	Home county:  Summit
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	0.9	4,781
Black	13.1	71,218
Asian and Pacific Islander	1.4	7,694
Native-American	0.2	997
Other non-white	0.1	610
Multi-racial	1.3	6,979
Non-white	17.0	92,279
White	83.0	450,620
Total		542,899
The home county of this newspaper is Summit.
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 Akron Beacon Journal
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
44203 / Norton / OH / 7.2 mi.	8,576	16,806	51.0	$36,851	6.3	0.6	3.9	0.2	0.3
44312 / Ellet / OH / 5.8 mi.	7,351	13,217	55.6	$37,758	3.4	0.6	1.2	0.2	0.6
44313 / Fairlawn / OH / 4.7 mi.	6,468	11,655	55.5	$47,686	19.9	1.1	15.5	0.2	1.7
44224 / Stow / OH / 6.2 mi.	6,407	13,971	45.9	$57,107	5.7	0.9	1.7	0.1	2.0
44221 / Cuyahoga Falls / OH / 3.5 mi.	5,801	13,641	42.5	$40,404	4.2	0.7	1.3	0.3	1.1
44319 / Akron / OH / 7.2 mi.	4,869	9,130	53.3	$46,475	2.6	0.5	0.7	0.2	0.5
44281 / Wadsworth / OH / 11.5 mi.	4,563	10,021	45.5	$52,954	2.4	0.6	0.4	0.2	0.6
44333 / Montrose / OH / 6.3 mi.	4,350	7,256	60.0	$75,721	8.0	1.0	3.4	0.1	2.6
44310 / North Hill / OH / 0.9 mi.	4,261	10,109	42.2	$30,817	27.9	1.2	22.8	0.3	1.2
44223 / Cuyahoga Falls / OH / 3.2 mi.	4,027	7,555	53.3	$50,348	4.0	0.4	2.1	0.1	0.6
44306 / South Arlington / OH / 3.5 mi.	3,974	10,006	39.7	$26,114	42.3	1.4	35.9	0.3	1.8
44301 / Firestone Park / OH / 3.6 mi.	3,889	6,972	55.8	$34,286	23.0	1.0	18.2	0.2	1.7
44314 / Kenmore / OH / 4.1 mi.	3,753	8,404	44.7	$32,273	8.6	0.8	5.1	0.3	0.6
44278 / Tallmadge / OH / 4.1 mi.	3,691	6,624	55.7	$48,215	5.4	0.6	2.5	0.1	1.1
44305 / East Akron / OH / 2.8 mi.	3,679	9,858	37.3	$35,432	19.2	1.0	15.4	0.3	0.5
44240 / Kent / OH / 9.8 mi.	3,650	14,725	24.8	$34,224	10.9	0.9	6.0	0.1	1.9
44685 / Uniontown / OH / 10.7 mi.	3,529	8,682	40.6	$59,693	2.9	0.6	0.7	0.1	0.8
44320 / Maple Valley / OH / 3 mi.	3,136	9,234	34.0	$31,336	77.8	0.7	74.3	0.2	0.5
44236 / Hudson / OH / 10.2 mi.	2,485	8,011	31.0	$97,002	6.3	0.8	2.0	0.1	2.7
44720 / North Canton / OH / 14.6 mi.	2,449	15,224	16.1	$50,316	4.1	0.9	1.1	0.1	1.1
44256 / Medina / OH / 16.9 mi.	2,121	18,685	11.4	$57,711	4.5	0.9	1.6	0.2	0.7
44691 / Wooster / OH / 28.6 mi.	2,060	16,470	12.5	$41,311	5.5	0.8	2.4	0.2	1.1
44321 / Copley / OH / 6.6 mi.	2,047	4,017	51.0	$59,707	14.1	1.2	7.9	0.1	3.8
44266 / Ravenna / OH / 14.2 mi.	2,039	13,163	15.5	$41,583	5.7	0.7	3.2	0.2	0.2
44260 / Suffield / OH / 9 mi.	1,838	5,266	34.9	$51,210	1.4	0.3	0.2	0.1	0.2