Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
The State, Columbia
Columbia, South Carolina
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	20.0
2004	15.1
2003	15.6
2002	13.4
2001	13.2
2000	12.4
1999	14.3
1998	10.4
1997	10.4
1996	19.8
1995	13.1
1994	7.7
1993	12.4
1992	8.6
1991	10.2
1990	9.0
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 State, Columbia
Year	Non-white % of newsroom staff	Non-white % of circulation area	Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005	20.0	41.1	49
2004	15.1	41.1	37
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 The State, Columbia
This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 49.				This paper
				Peer group
Compare that with 64, which is the median Diversity Index for all newspapers
reporting in this circulation category of 100,001 to 250,000 daily sales.
In that group, this newspaper's Diversity Index ranks 43 out of 58
newspapers reporting in the 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 South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with a 28.3 percent non-white staff in a community that is 36.1 percent non-white. Its index is 79.
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of
approximately 115,464 ranks 89 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 State, Columbia
	Circulation area
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	2.3	20,198
Black	36.5	318,310
Asian and Pacific Islander	1.1	9,188
Native-American	0.3	2,195
Other non-white	0.1	873
Multi-racial	0.9	7,509
Non-white	41.1	358,273
White	58.9	513,798
Total		872,071
	Home county:  Richland
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	2.7	8,713
Black	44.8	143,773
Asian and Pacific Islander	1.8	5,669
Native-American	0.2	709
Other non-white	0.1	442
Multi-racial	1.1	3,528
Non-white	50.8	162,834
White	49.2	157,843
Total		320,677
The home county of this newspaper is Richland.
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 State, Columbia
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
29223 / Columbia / SC / 11.3 mi.	6,336	16,800	37.7	$48,131	52.8	4.5	42.9	0.3	3.5
29072 / Lexington / SC / 13.9 mi.	5,355	11,168	47.9	$62,017	10.0	2.3	5.8	0.2	1.1
29212 / Columbia / SC / 11.4 mi.	4,990	10,665	46.8	$61,580	19.9	1.4	14.8	0.3	2.3
29210 / Columbia / SC / 7 mi.	4,748	16,652	28.5	$36,182	50.1	1.7	44.9	0.2	2.2
29206 / Columbia / SC / 4.9 mi.	4,501	8,619	52.2	$47,148	29.1	4.6	21.2	0.2	1.6
29201 / Columbia / SC / 0 mi.	4,492	5,702	78.8	$22,473	43.8	2.4	36.6	0.2	3.2
29169 / West Columbia / SC / 4.3 mi.	4,441	9,135	48.6	$32,229	25.0	3.9	17.7	0.3	1.9
29209 / Columbia / SC / 5.2 mi.	4,355	10,966	39.7	$40,590	47.9	2.2	42.1	0.1	1.9
29205 / Columbia / SC / 1.7 mi.	4,089	12,064	33.9	$34,424	27.7	2.2	22.5	0.2	1.8
29036 / Chapin / SC / 20.7 mi.	3,727	4,685	79.6	$65,183	5.0	0.8	3.3	0.1	0.3
29203 / Columbia / SC / 9.5 mi.	3,450	14,755	23.4	$27,086	86.4	1.6	83.3	0.1	0.6
29229 / Columbia / SC / 13.1 mi.	3,447	6,193	55.7	$61,330	46.3	3.4	37.8	0.3	3.1
29204 / Columbia / SC / 3.3 mi.	3,351	8,844	37.9	$30,933	63.6	1.6	60.4	0.1	0.5
29073 / Lexington / SC / 13.8 mi.	3,248	11,316	28.7	$43,238	9.4	1.7	6.0	0.4	0.6
29170 / West Columbia / SC / 7.4 mi.	3,092	6,980	44.3	$45,344	11.1	1.4	7.2	0.4	1.2
29063 / Irmo / SC / 14.8 mi.	2,635	8,348	31.6	$57,463	25.4	1.5	21.6	0.2	1.1
29020 / Camden / SC / 33.4 mi.	2,457	8,589	28.6	$36,092	39.1	1.4	36.6	0.1	0.4
29033 / Cayce / SC / 2.7 mi.	2,325	5,184	44.8	$35,379	26.4	1.3	22.9	0.3	1.2
29150 / Sumter / SC / 47.6 mi.	2,281	14,644	15.6	$30,698	54.2	1.5	50.7	0.2	0.9
29016 / Blythewood / SC / 15.4 mi.	1,923	3,670	52.4	$54,988	28.5	1.3	25.3	0.2	0.6
29108 / Newberry / SC / 40.1 mi.	1,899	7,404	25.6	$30,535	48.0	7.0	39.7	0.2	0.4
29070 / Leesville / SC / 24.3 mi.	1,619	5,135	31.5	$41,479	15.3	2.1	12.0	0.4	0.1
29180 / Winnsboro / SC / 30.4 mi.	1,478	5,521	26.8	$28,617	60.2	1.2	58.2	0.1	0.2
29115 / Orangeburg / SC / 35.5 mi.	1,452	11,905	12.2	$27,382	73.9	1.1	71.5	0.3	0.4
29501 / Florence / SC / 77.6 mi.	1,411	15,625	9.0	$39,809	30.0	1.0