Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
The Columbus Dispatch
Columbus, Ohio
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	Did not report
2004	Did not report
2003	Did not report
2002	Did not report
2001	Did not report
2000	Did not report
1999	Did not report
1998	Did not report
1997	Did not report
1996	Did not report
1995	Did not report
1994	Did not report
1993	Did not report
1992	Did not report
1991	5.5
1990	Did not report
The latest year at peak is	1991
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Newsroom Diversity Index
for The Columbus Dispatch
Year	Non-white % of newsroom staff	Non-white % of circulation area	Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005	N/A	17.8	N/A
2004	N/A	17.3	N/A
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 Columbus Dispatch
	This paper
					Peer group
The median Diversity Index is 70 for all newspapers
reporting in this circulation category of 250,001 to 500,000 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 Oregonian, Portland, Oregon, with a 18.8 percent non-white staff in a community that is 18.2 percent non-white. Its index is 103.
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of
approximately 251,045 ranks 37 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 Columbus Dispatch
	Circulation area
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	1.6	30,015
Black	11.6	211,778
Asian and Pacific Islander	2.1	37,853
Native-American	0.2	4,300
Other non-white	0.2	2,978
Multi-racial	1.6	28,902
Non-white	17.3	315,826
White	82.7	1,511,514
Total		1,827,340
	Home county:  Franklin
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	2.3	24,279
Black	17.7	189,652
Asian and Pacific Islander	3.1	33,063
Native-American	0.2	2,598
Other non-white	0.2	2,297
Multi-racial	2.0	21,429
Non-white	25.6	273,318
White	74.4	795,660
Total		1,068,978
The home county of this newspaper is Franklin.
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 Columbus Dispatch
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
43081 / Westerville / OH / 10.5 mi.	8,735	19,701	44.3	$59,918	9.9	1.3	4.7	0.1	2.3
43123 / Urbancrest / OH / 6.9 mi.	8,184	17,097	47.9	$52,697	6.3	1.1	2.8	0.2	1.0
43230 / Gahanna / OH / 8.8 mi.	8,031	19,229	41.8	$60,457	16.3	1.5	9.9	0.2	3.1
43215 / Columbus / OH / 0 mi.	7,790	5,799	134.3	$23,562	31.2	2.8	23.4	0.3	2.5
43026 / Hilliard / OH / 8 mi.	7,297	17,769	41.1	$61,665	9.9	2.1	2.5	0.2	3.7
43068 / Reynoldsburg / OH / 10.7 mi.	7,015	18,460	38.0	$50,040	17.7	1.9	11.9	0.2	1.8
43228 / Columbus / OH / 6.2 mi.	6,740	19,458	34.6	$37,752	20.5	7.9	8.7	0.3	1.7
43017 / Dublin / OH / 10.3 mi.	6,627	12,739	52.0	$80,540	12.0	1.7	2.1	0.1	6.9
43235 / Columbus / OH / 9.3 mi.	6,545	16,440	39.8	$59,214	14.0	2.2	3.0	0.1	7.0
43221 / Upper Arlington / OH / 4.6 mi.	6,261	12,310	50.9	$66,171	6.7	1.2	1.0	0.1	3.3
43229 / Columbus / OH / 7.6 mi.	6,165	20,441	30.2	$38,591	34.0	4.2	23.4	0.2	2.9
43207 / Reese Station / OH / 4.5 mi.	5,884	17,119	34.4	$34,287	28.8	1.4	23.7	0.4	1.1
43214 / Columbus / OH / 5.8 mi.	5,878	12,392	47.4	$47,882	8.4	1.2	2.9	0.1	2.8
43204 / Valleyview / OH / 4.1 mi.	5,256	16,501	31.9	$36,336	17.3	2.2	9.4	0.4	3.1
43213 / Whitehall / OH / 6.3 mi.	5,223	13,811	37.8	$35,269	32.7	3.3	24.1	0.3	2.6
43209 / Columbus / OH / 3.6 mi.	5,205	12,077	43.1	$46,016	30.6	2.4	24.7	0.2	1.1
43147 / Pickerington / OH / 13 mi.	5,198	9,346	55.6	$75,684	8.5	1.1	4.4	0.1	1.7
43220 / Upper Arlington / OH / 6.4 mi.	5,191	11,653	44.5	$50,284	12.7	1.9	2.0	0.1	7.5
43065 / Shawnee Hills / OH / 14.2 mi.	4,862	8,494	57.2	$83,484	8.4	1.3	2.0	0.1	4.1
43085 / Worthington / OH / 8.7 mi.	4,799	9,632	49.8	$62,793	10.2	1.4	3.4	0.1	3.8
43082 / Westerville / OH / 10.6 mi.	4,534	5,944	76.3	$95,618	7.4	1.1	3.0	0.1	2.1
43232 / Columbus / OH / 7.1 mi.	4,304	16,839	25.6	$37,444	41.9	2.5	34.0	0.3	1.9
43224 / Columbus / OH / 5.2 mi.	4,238	17,334	24.4	$31,548	42.1	3.0	31.6	0.2	2.2
43130 / Lancaster / OH / 25.5 mi.	4,072	21,621	18.8	$37,967	4.3	0.7	2.0	0.3	0.4
43015 / Delaware / OH / 21.6 mi.	3,909	13,579	28.8	$51,422	6.8	1.0	3.4	0.1	0.8
43016 / Dublin / OH / 11.4 mi.	3,506	7,775	45.1	$65,367