Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists | ||||||||||
at America's daily newspapers | ||||||||||
with the communities that they serve | ||||||||||
Newsroom diversity report for | ||||||||||
Big Spring Herald | ||||||||||
Big Spring, Texas | ||||||||||
Owner: Horizon Publications (Ill.) | ||||||||||
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 | 0.0 | |||||||||
2002 | 0.0 | |||||||||
2001 | 14.3 | |||||||||
2000 | 0.0 | |||||||||
1999 | 14.3 | |||||||||
1998 | 42.9 | |||||||||
1997 | 28.6 | |||||||||
1996 | 42.9 | |||||||||
1995 | 14.3 | |||||||||
1994 | Did not report | |||||||||
1993 | 30.0 | |||||||||
1992 | Did not report | |||||||||
1991 | 20.0 | |||||||||
1990 | 9.1 | |||||||||
The latest year at peak is | 1998 | |||||||||
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures. | ||||||||||
Newsroom Diversity Index | ||||||||||
for Big Spring Herald | ||||||||||
Year | Non-white % of newsroom staff | Non-white % of circulation area | Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100) | |||||||
2005 | N/A | 43.0 | N/A | |||||||
2004 | N/A | 43.0 | 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, Horizon Publications (Ill.), | ||||||||||
has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 19. | ||||||||||
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures. | ||||||||||
Peer group comparison | ||||||||||
for Big Spring Herald | ||||||||||
This paper | ||||||||||
Peer group | ||||||||||
The median Diversity Index is 0 for all newspapers | ||||||||||
reporting in this circulation category of 5,000 and fewer 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 Chronicle-News, Trinidad, Colorado, with a 60 percent non-white staff in a community that is 44.9 percent non-white. Its index is 134. | ||||||||||
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of | ||||||||||
approximately 4,337 ranks 1216 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 Big Spring Herald | ||||||||||
Circulation area | ||||||||||
Race/ethnicity | % of population | Number of residents |
|
|||||||
Hispanic | 37.4 | 12,790 | ||||||||
Black | 3.8 | 1,288 | ||||||||
Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.6 | 197 | ||||||||
Native-American | 0.4 | 121 | ||||||||
Other non-white | 0.0 | 6 | ||||||||
Multi-racial | 0.9 | 321 | ||||||||
Non-white | 43.0 | 14,723 | ||||||||
White | 57.0 | 19,503 | ||||||||
Total | 34,226 | |||||||||
Home county: Howard | ||||||||||
Race/ethnicity | % of population | Number of residents |
|
|||||||
Hispanic | 37.5 | 12,597 | ||||||||
Black | 3.8 | 1,292 | ||||||||
Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.6 | 197 | ||||||||
Native-American | 0.4 | 122 | ||||||||
Other non-white | 0.0 | 8 | ||||||||
Multi-racial | 0.9 | 315 | ||||||||
Non-white | 43.2 | 14,531 | ||||||||
White | 56.8 | 19,096 | ||||||||
Total | 33,627 | |||||||||
The home county of this newspaper is Howard. | ||||||||||
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 | ||||||||||
Big Spring Herald | ||||||||||
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 |
|
79720 / Big Spring / TX / 0 mi. | 4,354 | 10,850 | 40.1 | $30,531 | 44.1 | 38.2 | 4.0 | 0.4 | 0.6 | |
79511 / Coahoma / TX / 11.9 mi. | 195 | 546 | 35.7 | $38,854 | 20.7 | 19.5 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.1 | |
79782 / Stanton / TX / 30.8 mi. | 47 | 1,246 | 3.8 | $30,283 | 47.7 | 44.8 | 2.1 | 0.2 | 0.2 | |
79713 / Ackerly / TX / 31.6 mi. | 34 | 231 | 14.7 | $32,222 | 37.7 | 36.7 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | |
79739 / Garden City / TX / 29 mi. | 21 | 338 | 6.2 | $36,250 | 35.5 | 32.7 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 0.0 | |
File | tx_big_spring_herald | |||||||||
Time | 5/15/05 8:14 PM | |||||||||
Page | 1215 | |||||||||
Member | 144850 |