Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre... 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

Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre

Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania

Owner: Knight Ridder (Calif.)

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

1.6

2004

1.6

2003

4.8

2002

Did not report

2001

5.6

2000

1.4

1999

2.6

1998

2.9

1997

3.0

1996

2.8

1995

7.5

1994

5.9

1993

4.5

1992

9.8

1991

5.3

1990

Did not report

The latest year at peak is

1992

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

Newsroom Diversity Index

for Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre

Year

Non-white % of newsroom staff

Non-white % of circulation area

Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)

2005

1.6

3.8

2004

1.6

3.8

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, Knight Ridder (Calif.),

has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 76.

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

Peer group comparison

for Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre

This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 43.

This paper

Peer group

Compare that with 44, which is the median Diversity Index for all newspapers

reporting in this circulation category of 25,001 to 50,000 daily sales.

In that group, this newspaper's Diversity Index ranks 75 out of 140

newspapers reporting in the category of 25,001 to 50,000 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 La Crosse Tribune, Wisconsin, with a 5.3 percent non-white staff in a community that is 4.9 percent non-white. Its index is 107.

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

approximately 42,585 ranks 244 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 Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre

Circulation area

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

0.8

2,291

Black

1.7

4,690

Asian and Pacific Islander

0.6

1,578

Native-American

0.1

228

Other non-white

0.1

134

Multi-racial

0.5

1,345

Non-white

3.8

10,266

White

96.3

263,521

Total

273,787

Home county: Luzerne

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

1.2

3,713

Black

1.6

5,202

Asian and Pacific Islander

0.6

1,898

Native-American

0.1

248

Other non-white

0.0

140

Multi-racial

0.5

1,521

Non-white

4.0

12,722

White

96.0

306,528

Total

319,250

The home county of this newspaper is Luzerne.

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

Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre

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

18702 / Wilkes Barre / PA / 3.6 mi.

7,102

21,191

33.5

$29,129

7.3

1.3

3.9

0.1

1.0

18704 / Kingston / PA / 2.4 mi.

5,505

14,284

38.5

$32,603

2.9

0.7

0.8

0.1

0.8

18705 / Wilkes Barre / PA / 2.4 mi.

2,642

6,726

39.3

$33,476

2.3

0.6

1.1

0.0

0.3

18612 / Dallas / PA / 11.1 mi.

2,624

5,503

47.7

$49,005

9.4

1.5

6.8

0.1

0.6

18707 / Mountain Top / PA / 9.5 mi.

2,544

5,186

49.1

$52,176

3.9

1.1

0.5

0.0

1.8

18640 / Pittston / PA / 7.8 mi.

2,442

7,307

33.4

$32,762

1.6

0.5

0.4

0.0

0.2

18634 / Nanticoke / PA / 9.2 mi.

2,167

6,190

35.0

$28,566

1.4

0.5

0.2

0.1

0.2

18643 / Pittston / PA / 8.6 mi.

2,040

5,673

36.0

$33,914

1.2

0.4

0.3

0.1

18708 / Shavertown / PA / 6.6 mi.

1,568

3,373

46.5

$53,435

1.6

0.4

0.2

0.0

0.6

18706 / Wilkes Barre / PA / 4.5 mi.

1,407

3,239

43.4

$31,745

2.1

0.5

0.7

0.1

0.3

18701 / Wilkes Barre / PA / 0.5 mi.

1,383

1,349

102.5

$15,656

10.7

2.3

5.1

0.1

1.7

18644 / Wyoming / PA / 6.2 mi.

1,294

3,257

39.7

$36,972

0.8

0.3

0.2

0.0

0.1

18657 / Tunkhannock / PA / 22.6 mi.

1,179

4,844

24.3

$36,975

2.1

0.7

0.5

0.1

0.3

18651 / Plymouth / PA / 4.2 mi.

1,134

4,046

28.0

$28,488

1.9

0.7

0.5

0.1

18641 / Pittston / PA / 9.3 mi.

810

2,689

30.1

$34,257

0.9

0.2

0.3

0.0

0.2

18201 / Hazleton / PA / 20.5 mi.

792

15,416

5.1

$29,994

5.4

3.7

0.5

0.1

0.6

18655 / Shickshinny / PA / 17 mi.

699

2,626

26.6

$36,349

1.6

0.7

0.2

0.0

0.2

18709 / Luzerne / PA / 2.9 mi.

564

1,436

39.3

$27,500

1.3

0.4

0.3

0.0

0.1

18642 / Duryea / PA / 9 mi.

553

1,787

30.9

$31,605

1.3

0.2

0.1

0.4

18621 / Hunlock Creek / PA / 11.1 mi.

551

1,863

29.6

$38,942

9.5

1.8

6.8

0.1

0.4

18603 / Berwick / PA / 21.7 mi.

397

8,063

4.9

$30,948

2.8

1.1

0.7

0.1

0.4

18618 / Harveys Lake / PA / 11.8 mi.

359

1,561

23.0

$39,034

1.9

0.7

0.1

0.2

0.4

18661 / White Haven / PA / 10.8 mi.

277

2,138

13.0

$38,784

3.6

1.4

1.2

0.2

0.4

18660 / Wapwallopen / PA / 16.3 mi.

245

1,246

19.7

$40,714

1.6

0.7

0.2

0.0

0.2

18617 / Glen Lyon / PA / 11.5 mi.

218

833

26.2

$24,271

2.4

0.4

1.5

0.0

0.2

18507 / Moosic / PA / 11.8 mi.

182

2,036

8.9

$39,085

1.6

0.6

0.3

0.0

0.5

18222 / Drums / PA / 15.9 mi.

181

2,489

7.3

$46,362

8.0

1.8

5.3

0.1

0.5

18656 / Sweet Valley / PA / 15.7 mi.

178

830

21.4

$42,535

2.0

0.3

0.7

0.1

18518 / Old Forge / PA / 11.1 mi.

166

3,746

4.4

$35,090

1.2

0.3

0.2

0.0

0.4

18629 / Mehoopany / PA / 22.3 mi.

111

655

16.9

$38,958

2.8

0.8

0.4

0.8

0.1

18630 / Meshoppen / PA / 28.7 mi.

111

1,211

9.2

$34,261

1.4

0.5

0.0

0.2

18636 / Noxen / PA / 15.7 mi.

111

599

18.5

$31,481

1.1

0.1

0.3

0.1

0.0

18601 / Beach Haven / PA / 19.9 mi.

110

119.6

$31,250

3.1

0.8

0.0

0.8

18224 / Freeland / PA / 15 mi.

102

2,593

3.9

$31,274

1.8

0.8

0.2

0.0

0.5

18424 / Gouldsboro / PA / 17 mi.

1,888

5.0

$40,366

5.0

2.5

1.1

0.1

0.7

18615 / Falls / PA / 15.7 mi.

692

12.9

$36,951

1.4

0.6

0.2

0.0

0.3

17815 / Bloomsburg / PA / 33.7 mi.

10,359

0.7

$35,291

4.0

1.1

1.2

0.1

0.8

18411 / Clarks Summit / PA / 16.8 mi.

8,190

0.9

$52,730

3.2

0.9

0.4

0.1

1.6

18360 / Stroudsburg / PA / 35 mi.

10,019

0.6

$46,039

11.5

4.7

4.0

0.2

1.4

18623 / Laceyville / PA / 33.6 mi.

1,056

5.6

$31,938

2.0

0.7

0.2

0.1

0.3

17814 / Benton / PA / 23.6 mi.

1,823

3.2

$35,032

1.5

0.4

0.1

0.4

0.1

18853 / Wyalusing / PA / 39.3 mi.

1,573

3.6

$35,423

2.6

0.8

0.2

0.4

0.3

18219 / Conyngham / PA / 20 mi.

646

8.2

$49,821

2.5

0.7

0.1

0.0

1.5

18255 / Weatherly / PA / 22.3 mi.

1,625

3.2

$37,987

1.7

0.5

0.2

0.1

18249 / Sugarloaf / PA / 20.4 mi.

1,396

2.5

$50,764

2.3

0.6

0.1

1.3

18622 / Huntington Mills / PA / 17.1 mi.

114

25.4

$33,500

1.7

0.3

18237 / McAdoo / PA / 26.3 mi.

1,424

1.9

$26,708

1.0

0.5

0.1

0.0

0.1

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