The Lawton Constitution... Racial diversity of its news staff and community

Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists

at America's daily newspapers

with the communities that they serve

Newsroom diversity report for

The Lawton Constitution

Lawton, Oklahoma

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

10.3

2003

Did not report

2002

13.3

2001

6.9

2000

9.4

1999

10.7

1998

10.0

1997

6.7

1996

9.4

1995

6.5

1994

9.1

1993

6.5

1992

10.0

1991

Did not report

1990

Did not report

The latest year at peak is

2002

See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.

Newsroom Diversity Index

for The Lawton Constitution

Year

Non-white % of newsroom staff

Non-white % of circulation area

Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)

2005

N/A

36.1

N/A

2004

10.3

36.1

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 Lawton Constitution

This paper

Peer group

The median Diversity Index is 33 for all newspapers

reporting in this circulation category of 10,001 to 25,000 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 Muskogee Daily Phoenix and Times-Democrat, Oklahoma, with a 43.5 percent non-white staff in a community that is 36.9 percent non-white. Its index is 118.

FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of

approximately 20,810 ranks 470 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 Lawton Constitution

Circulation area

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

8.6

12,035

Black

16.1

22,548

Asian and Pacific Islander

2.0

2,807

Native-American

5.8

8,121

Other non-white

0.1

185

Multi-racial

3.4

4,785

Non-white

36.1

50,481

White

63.9

89,201

Total

139,682

Home county: Comanche

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

8.4

9,675

Black

18.6

21,381

Asian and Pacific Islander

2.4

2,756

Native-American

4.8

5,464

Other non-white

0.2

180

Multi-racial

3.7

4,236

Non-white

38.0

43,692

White

62.0

71,304

Total

114,996

The home county of this newspaper is Comanche.

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 Lawton Constitution

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

73505 / Lawton / OK / 4.5 mi.

7,850

17,314

45.3

$36,467

40.7

8.4

21.8

2.9

3.4

73501 / Lawton / OK / 7.3 mi.

3,810

7,967

47.8

$29,559

41.1

7.6

22.0

6.2

1.7

73507 / Lawton / OK / 7.2 mi.

2,837

7,178

39.5

$30,682

37.5

9.7

16.9

4.1

2.5

73527 / Cache / OK / 11.3 mi.

659

1,484

44.4

$36,712

28.9

4.5

0.8

18.8

0.3

73538 / Elgin / OK / 11.6 mi.

563

1,370

41.1

$38,358

16.3

4.1

0.4

8.6

0.4

73572 / Walters / OK / 15.6 mi.

509

1,498

34.0

$30,000

17.5

3.7

1.2

9.6

0.2

73006 / Apache / OK / 21.9 mi.

396

1,452

27.3

$28,091

33.0

3.9

0.3

25.6

0.3

73503 / Fort Sill / OK / 4.5 mi.

395

1,430

27.6

$37,535

46.2

13.3

26.1

1.3

2.6

73533 / Duncan / OK / 33 mi.

382

11,194

3.4

$31,606

15.5

5.3

3.4

4.0

0.4

73542 / Frederick / OK / 35.4 mi.

378

2,115

17.9

$23,250

35.3

19.8

10.5

2.5

0.4

73541 / Fletcher / OK / 17.4 mi.

345

927

37.2

$35,734

10.4

1.9

0.1

5.8

0.4

73521 / Altus / OK / 54.2 mi.

252

8,509

3.0

$30,858

31.2

16.6

9.6

1.4

73543 / Geronimo / OK / 8.7 mi.

241

520

46.3

$31,250

25.4

5.6

1.4

12.6

1.6

73552 / Indiahoma / OK / 20.9 mi.

201

388

51.8

$33,393

29.5

7.3

5.9

13.6

0.3

73005 / Anadarko / OK / 36.5 mi.

199

3,497

5.7

$26,813

56.2

7.7

4.5

38.5

0.3

73055 / Marlow / OK / 30.6 mi.

181

3,774

4.8

$28,939

9.9

1.7

0.1

5.3

0.2

73566 / Snyder / OK / 31 mi.

170

716

23.7

$26,333

18.5

8.8

6.4

2.2

0.1

73015 / Carnegie / OK / 34.9 mi.

154

1,219

12.6

$24,628

36.6

8.1

0.9

25.6

0.1

73029 / Cyril / OK / 22.2 mi.

149

710

21.0

$29,779

17.9

2.8

0.1

12.5

0.3

73567 / Sterling / OK / 16.2 mi.

146

358

40.8

$27,772

9.8

2.4

0.0

6.0

0.0

73568 / Temple / OK / 27.2 mi.

133

593

22.4

$20,352

22.8

6.3

9.6

4.0

0.1

73528 / Chattanooga / OK / 17 mi.

130

223

58.3

$31,389

19.8

9.5

0.5

7.2

0.0

73651 / Hobart / OK / 46.5 mi.

124

1,745

7.1

$25,899

22.9

8.3

7.3

4.2

0.7

73570 / Tipton / OK / 41.5 mi.

508

18.9

$25,221

24.5

11.8

9.3

1.7

0.3

73546 / Grandfield / OK / 32.3 mi.

524

13.7

$23,708

31.6

17.4

7.9

3.7

0.2

73062 / Mountain View / OK / 31.5 mi.

690

9.6

$24,872

23.5

2.4

0.2

19.1

0.1

73038 / Fort Cobb / OK / 35.3 mi.

857

7.0

$27,207

26.2

3.3

1.3

18.6

0.1

73540 / Faxon / OK / 12.7 mi.

156

30.1

$38,750

15.7

3.7

2.2

6.7

1.5

73529 / Comanche / OK / 30.6 mi.

1,840

2.5

$29,886

12.3

1.7

0.0

7.3

0.2

73559 / Mountain Park / OK / 35.2 mi.

232

18.5

$18,875

11.8

5.3

0.6

2.9

0.2

73557 / Medicine Park / OK / 10.6 mi.

185

17.8

$25,694

17.8

5.5

1.0

5.5

0.5

73564 / Roosevelt / OK / 36 mi.

273

12.1

$26,905

9.8

6.2

1.7

0.5

0.2

73555 / Manitou / OK / 34.1 mi.

25.8

$31,458

20.8

7.3

7.6

3.2

0.3

73082 / Rush Springs / OK / 30.8 mi.

1,215

2.0

$25,271

12.2

2.7

0.0

5.9

0.1

73017 / Cement / OK / 26.7 mi.

707

2.7

$30,114

11.8

1.6

1.4

6.3

0.2

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