Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
The Providence Journal
Providence, Rhode Island
Owner: Belo (Texas)
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	Did not report
2003	Did not report
2002	Did not report
2001	5.4
2000	2.7
1999	6.7
1998	4.5
1997	9.4
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	3.5
The latest year at peak is	1997
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Newsroom Diversity Index
for The Providence Journal
Year	Non-white % of newsroom staff	Non-white % of circulation area	Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005	N/A	17.3	N/A
2004	N/A	17.3	N/A
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, Belo (Texas),
has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 40.
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Peer group comparison
for The Providence Journal
	This paper
					Peer group
The median Diversity Index is 64 for all newspapers
reporting in this circulation category of 100,001 to 250,000 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 Detroit News, Michigan, with a 26.2 percent non-white staff in a community that is 21.6 percent non-white. Its index is 121.
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of
approximately 168,021 ranks 65 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 Providence Journal
	Circulation area
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	8.2	91,164
Black	3.8	42,107
Asian and Pacific Islander	2.2	24,125
Native-American	0.4	4,257
Other non-white	0.8	8,533
Multi-racial	1.9	21,343
Non-white	17.3	191,529
White	82.7	916,573
Total		1,108,102
	Home county:  Providence
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	13.4	83,232
Black	5.8	36,078
Asian and Pacific Islander	2.9	18,022
Native-American	0.4	2,377
Other non-white	1.3	7,790
Multi-racial	2.5	15,481
Non-white	26.2	162,980
White	73.8	458,622
Total		621,602
The home county of this newspaper is Providence.
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 Providence Journal
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
02920 / Cranston / RI / 4.9 mi.	7,853	14,563	53.9	$39,485	14.2	5.4	4.2	0.3	3.2
02886 / Warwick / RI / 8.1 mi.	7,230	13,048	55.4	$44,012	5.7	1.5	1.0	0.2	2.0
02915 / Riverside / RI / 4.2 mi.	6,141	7,646	80.3	$40,832	8.6	1.4	3.1	0.2	1.3
02919 / Johnston / RI / 4.5 mi.	5,628	11,207	50.2	$43,553	4.5	1.9	0.6	0.1	1.1
02904 / Providence / RI / 2.5 mi.	5,284	13,371	39.5	$33,926	21.3	8.5	7.0	0.3	2.2
02816 / Coventry / RI / 12.3 mi.	4,786	11,826	40.5	$51,581	3.2	1.2	0.4	0.1	0.6
02864 / Valley Falls / RI / 8 mi.	4,766	12,198	39.1	$54,656	4.5	2.1	0.5	0.1	0.9
02910 / Providence / RI / 3.5 mi.	4,542	8,657	52.5	$41,873	12.6	3.8	2.4	0.3	4.3
02893 / West Warwick / RI / 9.9 mi.	4,522	12,498	36.2	$39,505	7.7	3.1	1.0	0.3	1.4
02889 / Warwick / RI / 7.6 mi.	4,517	11,470	39.4	$47,381	6.1	1.6	1.3	0.3	1.2
02852 / Wickford / RI / 15.7 mi.	4,347	9,164	47.4	$57,182	5.5	1.9	1.0	0.5	0.9
02888 / Warwick / RI / 5 mi.	4,313	8,586	50.2	$46,278	5.7	1.9	1.1	0.2	1.2
02818 / Warwick / RI / 12.7 mi.	4,188	7,373	56.8	$62,616	4.7	1.0	0.6	0.1	2.1
02903 / Providence / RI / 0.3 mi.	4,041	4,299	94.0	$14,095	39.5	15.2	11.6	0.6	7.2
02906 / Providence / RI / 1 mi.	3,969	11,988	33.1	$43,457	24.7	5.0	7.4	0.4	6.8
02865 / Lincoln / RI / 5.6 mi.	3,905	6,865	56.9	$52,455	5.3	1.5	0.6	0.1	1.9
02908 / Providence / RI / 1.4 mi.	3,871	13,161	29.4	$30,306	43.7	23.7	10.7	0.6	4.4
02860 / Pawtucket / RI / 3.1 mi.	3,498	19,023	18.4	$28,104	41.6	18.5	9.4	0.3	1.0
02879 / Wakefield / RI / 26.7 mi.	3,435	7,419	46.3	$54,410	7.1	1.0	1.1	1.7	1.7
02806 / Barrington / RI / 7 mi.	3,382	6,011	56.3	$74,591	4.3	1.1	0.7	0.1	1.8
02861 / Pawtucket / RI / 4.4 mi.	3,223	11,046	29.2	$39,048	12.1	5.8	1.9	0.1	0.7
02914 / East Providence / RI / 2.1 mi.	3,087	9,362	33.0	$33,683	21.5	2.5	7.1	0.7	1.3
02809 / Bristol / RI / 11.2 mi.	3,080	8,314	37.0	$43,689	3.7	1.3	0.6	0.1	0.7
02895 / Woonsocket / RI / 12.3 mi.	2,646	17,750	14.9	$30,819	20.2	9.3	3.9	0.2	4.0
02917 / Smithfield / RI / 7.6 mi.	2,639	4,413	59.8	$55,463	4.1	1.1	1.1	0.1	1.1