Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists | ||||||||||
at America's daily newspapers | ||||||||||
with the communities that they serve | ||||||||||
Newsroom diversity report for | ||||||||||
The Mercury, Pottstown | ||||||||||
Pottstown, Pennsylvania | ||||||||||
Owner: Journal Register (N.J.) | ||||||||||
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 | 0.0 | |||||||||
2004 | 0.0 | |||||||||
2003 | 0.0 | |||||||||
2002 | 0.0 | |||||||||
2001 | 0.0 | |||||||||
2000 | 0.0 | |||||||||
1999 | 0.0 | |||||||||
1998 | 6.3 | |||||||||
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 | Did not report | |||||||||
1990 | Did not report | |||||||||
The latest year at peak is | 1998 | |||||||||
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures. | ||||||||||
Newsroom Diversity Index | ||||||||||
for The Mercury, Pottstown | ||||||||||
Year | Non-white % of newsroom staff | Non-white % of circulation area | Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100) | |||||||
2005 | 0.0 | 8.2 | 0 | |||||||
2004 | 0.0 | 7.0 | 0 | |||||||
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, Journal Register (N.J.), | ||||||||||
has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 24. | ||||||||||
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures. | ||||||||||
Peer group comparison | ||||||||||
for The Mercury, Pottstown | ||||||||||
This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 0. | This paper | |||||||||
Peer group | ||||||||||
Compare that with 33, which is the median Diversity Index for all newspapers | ||||||||||
reporting in this circulation category of 10,001 to 25,000 daily sales. | ||||||||||
In that group, this newspaper's Diversity Index ranks 159 out of 259 | ||||||||||
newspapers reporting in the 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 The Herald, Sharon, Pennsylvania, with a 8 percent non-white staff in a community that is 7.3 percent non-white. Its index is 110. | ||||||||||
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of | ||||||||||
approximately 23,690 ranks 412 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 Mercury, Pottstown | ||||||||||
Circulation area | ||||||||||
Race/ethnicity | % of population | Number of residents |
|
|||||||
Hispanic | 1.5 | 2,631 | ||||||||
Black | 3.7 | 6,638 | ||||||||
Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.7 | 1,323 | ||||||||
Native-American | 0.1 | 227 | ||||||||
Other non-white | 0.1 | 181 | ||||||||
Multi-racial | 0.9 | 1,610 | ||||||||
Non-white | 7.0 | 12,610 | ||||||||
White | 93.1 | 168,765 | ||||||||
Total | 181,375 | |||||||||
Home county: Montgomery | ||||||||||
Race/ethnicity | % of population | Number of residents |
|
|||||||
Hispanic | 2.0 | 15,300 | ||||||||
Black | 7.4 | 55,303 | ||||||||
Asian and Pacific Islander | 4.1 | 30,362 | ||||||||
Native-American | 0.1 | 688 | ||||||||
Other non-white | 0.1 | 875 | ||||||||
Multi-racial | 1.0 | 7,550 | ||||||||
Non-white | 14.7 | 110,078 | ||||||||
White | 85.3 | 640,019 | ||||||||
Total | 750,097 | |||||||||
The home county of this newspaper is Montgomery. | ||||||||||
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 Mercury, Pottstown | ||||||||||
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 |
|
19464 / Stowe / PA / 0 mi. | 7,575 | 16,576 | 45.7 | $43,631 | 16.4 | 3.0 | 10.7 | 0.2 | 0.8 | |
19468 / Royersford / PA / 6 mi. | 2,479 | 8,186 | 30.3 | $60,536 | 5.8 | 1.2 | 2.3 | 0.1 | 1.4 | |
19465 / Pottstown / PA / 2.6 mi. | 2,395 | 5,385 | 44.5 | $57,191 | 3.3 | 0.8 | 1.3 | 0.1 | 0.5 | |
19512 / Woodchoppertown / PA / 5.5 mi. | 2,094 | 6,820 | 30.7 | $50,345 | 3.4 | 0.6 | 2.0 | 0.1 | 0.4 | |
19525 / New Hanover / PA / 3.7 mi. | 1,463 | 3,510 | 41.7 | $62,325 | 2.5 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.9 | |
19460 / Phoenixville / PA / 9.5 mi. | 1,399 | 12,972 | 10.8 | $55,989 | 9.9 | 2.0 | 4.6 | 0.1 | 2.3 | |
19475 / Spring City / PA / 5.5 mi. | 1,225 | 3,692 | 33.2 | $51,671 | 6.5 | 1.1 | 3.3 | 0.2 | 0.8 | |
19518 / Yellow House / PA / 5.9 mi. | 898 | 3,915 | 22.9 | $60,000 | 4.6 | 0.9 | 1.9 | 0.1 | 0.7 | |
19426 / Trappe / PA / 9.5 mi. | 814 | 9,523 | 8.5 | $77,497 | 15.5 | 2.4 | 9.9 | 0.1 | 2.3 | |
19473 / Schwenksville / PA / 7.6 mi. | 501 | 4,537 | 11.0 | $66,683 | 6.2 | 1.5 | 2.1 | 0.2 | 1.3 | |
18074 / Perkiomenville / PA / 6.6 mi. | 476 | 1,958 | 24.3 | $62,260 | 3.2 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 0.5 | |
19508 / White Bear / PA / 10.2 mi. | 357 | 5,857 | 6.1 | $51,395 | 4.1 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 0.2 | 0.4 | |
19505 / Passmore / PA / 7.8 mi. | 323 | 971 | 33.3 | $51,000 | 1.8 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.1 | |
18073 / Red Hill / PA / 11 mi. | 221 | 2,535 | 8.7 | $56,761 | 2.9 | 1.2 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 0.3 | |
19520 / Pine Swamp / PA / 10.3 mi. | 199 | 2,206 | 9.0 | $55,211 | 2.5 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.5 | |
19503 / Clayton / PA / 9.7 mi. | 182 | 397 | 45.8 | $49,609 | 1.6 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.5 | |
19403 / Norristown / PA / 13.7 mi. | 146 | 15,788 | 0.9 | $61,712 | 12.9 | 1.7 | 6.5 | 0.1 | 3.9 | |
19425 / Chester Springs / PA / 10.4 mi. | 143 | 2,676 | 5.3 | $89,312 | 5.1 | 1.2 | 1.6 | 0.1 | 1.7 | |
18054 / Green Lane / PA / 10.6 mi. | 130 | 1,589 | 8.2 | $56,886 | 3.7 | 1.3 | 1.0 | 0.1 | 0.3 | |
19504 / Schultzville / PA / 8 mi. | 120 | 1,949 | 6.2 | $52,595 | 1.9 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.4 | |
19545 / New Berlinville / PA / 6.1 mi. | 118 | 78 | 151.3 | $47,143 | 2.3 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | |
19606 / Stony Creek Mills / PA / 13.2 mi. | 116 | 11,710 | 1.0 | $51,181 | 6.7 | 3.1 | 1.7 | 0.1 | 1.1 | |
19547 / Pikeville / PA / 12 mi. | 103 | 1,430 | 7.2 | $55,023 | 1.9 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.3 | |
19492 / Zieglerville / PA / 6.6 mi. | 84 | 117 | 71.8 | $38,750 | 1.5 | 1.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | |
19401 / Norristown / PA / 15.8 mi. | 82 | 14,865 | 0.6 | $38,852 | 44.3 | 8.9 | 29.5 | 0.1 | 3.3 | |
19472 / Sassamansville / PA / 6.1 mi. | 70 | 75 | 93.3 | $50,547 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | |
18076 / Red Hill / PA / 10.3 mi. | 62 | 954 | 6.5 | $47,875 | 3.3 | 1.5 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.2 | |
18056 / Hereford / PA / 12.5 mi. | 51 | 318 | 16.0 | $41,696 | 4.3 | 2.7 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.4 | |
19453 / Phoenixville / PA / 9.1 mi. | 51 | 711 | 7.2 | $52,333 | 7.5 | 1.2 | 3.1 | 0.1 | 2.7 | |
19435 / Frederick / PA / 5.1 mi. | 28 | 32 | 87.5 | $35,625 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | |
File | pa_the_mercury__pottstown | |||||||||
Time | 5/14/05 2:18 PM | |||||||||
Page | 412 | |||||||||
Member | 141300 |