Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
The Plain Dealer, Cleveland
Cleveland, Ohio
Owner: Advance (Newhouse) (N.Y.)
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	14.8
2004	14.8
2003	15.1
2002	14.5
2001	14.2
2000	13.9
1999	14.4
1998	12.8
1997	15.5
1996	17.5
1995	17.9
1994	15.4
1993	16.1
1992	15.8
1991	12.2
1990	12.0
The latest year at peak is	1995
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Newsroom Diversity Index
for The Plain Dealer, Cleveland
Year	Non-white % of newsroom staff	Non-white % of circulation area	Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005	14.8	24.5	61
2004	14.8	24.5	61
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, Advance (Newhouse) (N.Y.),
has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 63.
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Peer group comparison
for The Plain Dealer, Cleveland
This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 61.				This paper
				Peer group
Compare that with 70, which is the median Diversity Index for all newspapers
reporting in this circulation category of 250,001 to 500,000 daily sales.
In that group, this newspaper's Diversity Index ranks 15 out of 24
newspapers reporting in the 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 354,309 ranks 20 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 Plain Dealer, Cleveland
	Circulation area
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	3.0	65,756
Black	18.5	412,310
Asian and Pacific Islander	1.5	32,264
Native-American	0.2	3,365
Other non-white	0.1	2,542
Multi-racial	1.3	27,911
Non-white	24.5	544,148
White	75.5	1,680,161
Total		2,224,309
	Home county:  Cuyahoga
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	3.4	47,078
Black	27.2	379,397
Asian and Pacific Islander	1.8	25,276
Native-American	0.2	2,156
Other non-white	0.1	1,900
Multi-racial	1.4	19,594
Non-white	34.1	475,401
White	65.9	918,577
Total		1,393,978
The home county of this newspaper is Cuyahoga.
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 Plain Dealer, Cleveland
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
44130 / Cleveland / OH / 10.9 mi.	11,985	23,347	51.3	$42,674	6.7	1.5	1.7	0.1	2.2
44124 / Cleveland / OH / 11 mi.	9,617	18,512	52.0	$46,955	7.2	0.9	2.6	0.0	3.0
44122 / Beachwood / OH / 9 mi.	9,495	14,541	65.3	$60,281	35.9	0.9	30.6	0.1	2.8
44107 / Lakewood / OH / 6.7 mi.	9,146	26,738	34.2	$40,537	8.3	2.2	1.9	0.2	1.4
44134 / Cleveland / OH / 9 mi.	8,104	16,486	49.2	$44,198	4.7	1.4	0.5	0.1	1.8
44070 / North Olmsted / OH / 14.2 mi.	7,791	13,509	57.7	$52,518	7.2	1.7	1.0	0.1	2.8
44111 / Cleveland / OH / 6.9 mi.	7,484	18,125	41.3	$37,540	20.2	8.7	7.2	0.3	1.8
44118 / Cleveland / OH / 6.3 mi.	7,316	17,725	41.3	$51,437	42.3	1.6	36.5	0.1	1.9
44145 / Westlake / OH / 13.7 mi.	7,315	12,909	56.7	$65,106	7.9	1.3	0.9	0.1	4.2
44060 / Mentor / OH / 21.2 mi.	7,003	24,114	29.0	$55,781	3.3	0.8	0.6	0.1	1.1
44114 / Cleveland / OH / 0 mi.	6,987	2,040	342.5	$16,952	67.5	7.0	35.4	0.1	22.5
44121 / Cleveland / OH / 7.6 mi.	6,945	14,457	48.0	$46,812	37.6	1.1	33.0	0.1	1.5
44135 / Cleveland / OH / 8.9 mi.	6,600	11,838	55.8	$37,597	26.0	5.7	15.9	0.3	2.2
44105 / Cleveland / OH / 5 mi.	6,497	20,719	31.4	$26,289	64.9	1.8	61.3	0.2	0.2
44120 / Cleveland / OH / 5.7 mi.	6,469	20,124	32.1	$30,299	80.8	1.1	75.9	0.1	1.8
44109 / Cleveland / OH / 4.8 mi.	6,392	18,371	34.8	$30,310	29.3	19.8	6.3	0.3	1.0
44129 / Cleveland / OH / 8.9 mi.	5,947	12,249	48.6	$41,943	5.0	1.8	0.9	0.1	1.2
44131 / Independence / OH / 9 mi.	5,857	8,019	73.0	$54,818	3.3	0.8	0.3	0.0	1.7
44146 / Bedford / OH / 11.8 mi.	5,819	14,095	41.3	$38,518	43.1	1.3	38.6	0.2	1.3
44125 / Cleveland / OH / 8 mi.	5,699	12,198	46.7	$40,605	9.4	1.2	6.2	0.1	1.0
44136 / Strongsville / OH / 15.3 mi.	5,564	16,209	34.3	$68,660	6.7	1.3	1.2	0.0	3.2
44116 / Rocky River / OH / 9.5 mi.	5,551	9,896	56.1	$51,766	4.1	1.2	0.4	0.1	1.4
44106 / Cleveland / OH / 3.7 mi.	5,509	13,617	40.5	$21,077	63.9	1.4	55.7	0.2	5.1
44128 / Cleveland / OH / 8.8 mi.	5,444	13,344	40.8	$35,378	95.2	0.9	92.2	0.2	0.5
44212 / Brunswick / OH / 20.3 mi.	5,423	13,679	39.6	$56,945