The Oregonian, Portland... 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 Oregonian, Portland

Portland, Oregon

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

18.8

2004

18.4

2003

18.2

2002

17.6

2001

17.4

2000

15.4

1999

15.4

1998

14.1

1997

14.3

1996

14.1

1995

12.8

1994

11.6

1993

9.9

1992

7.8

1991

8.5

1990

7.1

The latest year at peak is

2005

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

Newsroom Diversity Index

for The Oregonian, Portland

Year

Non-white % of newsroom staff

Non-white % of circulation area

Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)

2005

18.8

18.2

103

2004

18.4

100

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 Oregonian, Portland

This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 103.

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 4 out of 24

newspapers reporting in the category of 250,001 to 500,000 daily sales.

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

approximately 337,707 ranks 22 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 Oregonian, Portland

Circulation area

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

8.0

173,934

Black

2.3

50,313

Asian and Pacific Islander

4.4

94,835

Native-American

1.0

21,335

Other non-white

0.1

3,030

Multi-racial

2.6

56,426

Non-white

18.4

399,873

White

81.6

1,773,891

Total

2,173,764

Home county: Multnomah

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

7.5

49,607

Black

5.5

36,592

Asian and Pacific Islander

6.0

39,550

Native-American

0.9

5,754

Other non-white

0.2

1,216

Multi-racial

3.4

22,275

Non-white

23.5

154,994

White

76.5

505,492

Total

660,486

The home county of this newspaper is Multnomah.

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 Oregonian, Portland

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

97229 / Rock Creek / OR / 5.7 mi.

8,891

16,421

54.1

$70,082

20.2

4.4

0.9

0.3

11.8

97007 / Farmington / OR / 8.8 mi.

8,261

19,770

41.8

$59,280

21.9

7.9

1.4

0.5

9.2

97223 / Tigard / OR / 5.2 mi.

7,768

17,601

44.1

$52,527

18.7

7.8

1.1

0.6

6.4

97219 / Portland / OR / 2.6 mi.

7,522

15,269

49.3

$58,461

13.3

4.1

1.7

0.5

3.8

97045 / Redland / OR / 11.9 mi.

7,468

16,399

45.5

$50,888

8.0

3.8

0.4

0.8

1.0

97006 / Hillsboro / OR / 7.6 mi.

7,446

19,005

39.2

$51,303

28.8

10.2

1.7

0.5

13.2

97202 / Portland / OR / 2.6 mi.

6,703

16,868

39.7

$39,879

15.9

4.4

1.9

0.8

5.4

97206 / Portland / OR / 4.4 mi.

6,517

17,947

36.3

$38,040

22.7

6.5

1.6

1.0

9.7

97224 / Tigard / OR / 7.3 mi.

6,117

11,137

54.9

$46,558

12.7

6.1

0.8

0.4

3.4

97217 / Portland / OR / 4.9 mi.

5,924

12,391

47.8

$38,442

37.6

9.0

17.2

1.2

4.9

97124 / West Union / OR / 12.4 mi.

5,839

14,488

40.3

$55,051

23.7

12.7

1.0

0.7

7.1

97080 / Gresham / OR / 13.7 mi.

5,816

12,516

46.5

$56,742

12.3

5.2

0.9

0.7

3.3

97230 / Portland / OR / 9.3 mi.

5,773

13,647

42.3

$41,262

24.6

9.0

4.4

0.7

7.2

97213 / Portland / OR / 5 mi.

5,714

12,677

45.1

$44,395

20.9

4.4

3.3

0.8

9.3

97222 / Portland / OR / 5.3 mi.

5,658

14,546

38.9

$40,899

12.7

5.7

1.0

0.8

2.6

97068 / Willamette / OR / 8.7 mi.

5,480

9,113

60.1

$73,414

8.2

2.7

0.5

0.3

2.9

97267 / Portland / OR / 6.9 mi.

5,391

11,482

47.0

$49,742

10.7

5.4

0.5

2.0

97225 / West Slope / OR / 3.2 mi.

5,316

9,839

54.0

$53,020

11.6

4.2

1.0

0.4

3.8

97266 / Portland / OR / 6.3 mi.

5,302

14,313

37.0

$37,234

25.2

9.2

2.0

0.9

9.5

97035 / Mountain Park / OR / 5.8 mi.

5,092

10,289

49.5

$62,089

11.9

2.6

0.7

0.2

5.6

97034 / Oswego / OR / 5.6 mi.

5,037

7,487

67.3

$84,192

7.5

2.2

0.5

0.4

2.8

97220 / Portland / OR / 6.8 mi.

4,883

10,469

46.6

$39,649

25.4

6.1

3.9

0.9

10.8

97123 / Scholls / OR / 12.9 mi.

4,803

11,748

40.9

$50,622

31.6

23.7

0.6

0.5

4.7

97030 / Gresham / OR / 11.9 mi.

4,785

12,531

38.2

$39,923

19.1

10.2

1.8

0.8

3.2

97212 / Portland / OR / 3.9 mi.

4,714

9,863

47.8

$53,679

24.4

4.2

14.0

0.6

2.1