Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
Texarkana Gazette
Texarkana, Texas
Owner: Wehco Media (Ark.)
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 13.3
2004 12.5
2003 15.6
2002 17.2
2001 22.6
2000 10.7
1999 10.3
1998 10.3
1997 3.3
1996 3.0
1995 7.4
1994 4.2
1993 3.6
1992 3.6
1991 Did not report
1990 3.3
The latest year at peak is 2001
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Newsroom Diversity Index
for Texarkana Gazette
Year Non-white % of newsroom staff Non-white % of circulation area Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005 13.3 29.8 45
2004 12.5 29.8 42
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, Wehco Media (Ark.),
has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 42.
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Peer group comparison
for Texarkana Gazette
This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 45. 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 70 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 Longview News-Journal, Texas, with a 23.1 percent non-white staff in a community that is 28.4 percent non-white. Its index is 81.
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of
approximately 30,508 ranks 334 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 Texarkana Gazette
Circulation area
Race/ethnicity % of population Number of residents
Hispanic 3.8 7,528
Black 24.0 47,893
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.4 697
Native-American 0.6 1,163
Other non-white 0.1 119
Multi-racial 1.1 2,147
  Non-white 29.8 59,547
White 70.2 140,289
Total 199,836
Home county:  Bowie
Race/ethnicity % of population Number of residents
Hispanic 4.5 3,992
Black 23.3 20,787
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.5 405
Native-American 0.6 487
Other non-white 0.1 50
Multi-racial 1.0 873
  Non-white 29.8 26,594
White 70.2 62,712
Total 89,306
The home county of this newspaper is Bowie.
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
Texarkana Gazette
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
75501 / Texarkana / TX / 0 mi. 8,065 13,113 61.5 $28,143 42.2 5.4 35.0 0.5 0.4
71854 / Texarkana / AR / 18.7 mi. 6,080 13,301 45.7 $31,143 29.9 1.7 25.7 0.6 0.4
75503 / Texarkana / TX / 12 mi. 3,335 8,456 39.4 $45,177 18.3 2.3 13.8 0.5 0.9
75570 / New Boston / TX / 16.2 mi. 1,403 3,548 39.5 $31,618 32.8 8.7 22.5 0.5 0.4
75551 / Atlanta / TX / 19.2 mi. 1,033 4,469 23.1 $29,585 22.7 1.5 19.6 0.4 0.2
75561 / Hooks / TX / 8.8 mi. 984 2,090 47.1 $32,354 20.0 2.9 13.7 0.9 0.4
71822 / Ashdown / AR / 21.9 mi. 977 3,584 27.3 $30,728 26.3 1.4 22.0 1.3 0.3
75559 / De Kalb / TX / 25 mi. 886 2,455 36.1 $28,306 23.6 2.9 18.2 1.1 0.1
71801 / Hope / AR / 40.7 mi. 726 6,521 11.1 $28,536 41.3 9.6 29.9 0.3 0.2
75567 / Maud / TX / 14.5 mi. 588 1,488 39.5 $35,683 8.3 1.1 5.5 0.5 0.1
75563 / Linden / TX / 26.4 mi. 573 1,878 30.5 $27,740 20.1 1.6 17.2 0.4 0.1
75569 / Nash / TX / 7.2 mi. 496 995 49.8 $29,259 23.3 3.8 17.1 0.8 0.3
75572 / Queen City / TX / 11 mi. 496 1,376 36.0 $28,594 22.1 1.5 18.9 0.5 0.1
71837 / Fouke / AR / 19.5 mi. 490 1,560 31.4 $32,254 3.4 1.4 0.4 0.8 0.0
71860 / Stamps / AR / 39.3 mi. 412 1,287 32.0 $24,872 44.2 0.8 42.0 0.6 0.2
71836 / Foreman / AR / 25.7 mi. 359 1,356 26.5 $27,440 23.3 2.2 16.8 1.9 0.2
75573 / Redwater / TX / 2.3 mi. 321 112 286.6 $26,964 33.0 2.9 27.6 1.8 0.0
71832 / De Queen / AR / 49.7 mi. 316 3,394 9.3 $30,390 34.9 28.1 3.8 1.9 0.2
71852 / Nashville / AR / 48.9 mi. 280 3,855 7.3 $29,716 26.4 5.0 19.6 0.3 0.7
71845 / Lewisville / AR / 33.7 mi. 223 1,046 21.3 $25,500 42.6 1.2 40.7 0.2 0.0
71851 / Mineral Springs / AR / 38.4 mi. 222 953 23.3 $28,869 52.6 6.7 44.4 0.3 0.2
75560 / Douglassville / TX / 14.8 mi. 206 460 44.8 $25,000 42.3 0.5 39.6 0.7 0.1
75568 / Naples / TX / 30.1 mi. 192 1,228 15.6 $23,964 29.9 1.9 26.5 0.6 0.1
71857 / Prescott / AR / 59.4 mi. 180 2,491 7.2 $28,007 33.8 2.0 30.8 0.4 0.1
75638 / Daingerfield / TX / 37.9 mi. 162 2,452 6.6 $32,563 29.7 3.8 24.1 0.5 0.3
71834 / Doddridge / AR / 22.6 mi. 145 609 23.8 $26,667 14.7 0.4 13.1 0.6 0.2
75554 / Avery / TX / 34.7 mi. 133 756 17.6 $26,474 8.9 3.1 3.3 0.8 0.0
74745 / Idabel / OK / 46.8 mi. 126 3,838 3.3 $22,858 38.8 4.1 19.9 10.4 0.4
71859 / Saratoga / AR / 33.9 mi. 118 174 67.8 $22,917 34.2 0.5 31.3 1.5 0.0
75574 / Simms / TX / 22.9 mi. 115 702 16.4 $29,647 4.0 2.3 0.1 0.7 0.1
75455 / Mount Pleasant / TX / 43.7 mi. 99 8,285 1.2 $32,862 43.1 30.6 11.0 0.3 0.5
71842 / Horatio / AR / 37.5 mi. 94 829 11.3 $32,063 14.3 9.9 1.8 1.5 0.1
75426 / Clarksville / TX / 48.5 mi. 91 2,499 3.6 $25,481 38.9 6.2 31.8 0.3 0.2
75571 / Omaha / TX / 34 mi. 88 1,073 8.2 $29,233 26.4 3.6 21.7 0.3 0.3
75556 / Bloomburg / TX / 18 mi. 84 296 28.4 $25,972 13.4 3.5 9.0 0.0 0.4
71826 / Bradley / AR / 36.8 mi. 81 580 14.0 $18,466 42.1 1.8 38.4 0.3 0.8
71838 / Fulton / AR / 29.6 mi. 80 564 14.2 $23,810 51.3 1.9 48.1 0.1 0.1
71958 / Murfreesboro / AR / 57.9 mi. 68 1,061 6.4 $26,524 9.6 1.3 6.1 1.0 0.1
71865 / Wilton / AR / 26.9 mi. 66 51 129.4 $22,404 33.1 0.0 31.6 0.0 0.0
71753 / Magnolia / AR / 56.1 mi. 63 6,658 0.9 $27,695 39.2 1.1 36.4 0.2 0.5
71853 / Ogden / AR / 21.4 mi. 61 208 29.3 $26,429 67.5 6.3 58.8 1.2 0.2
74728 / Broken Bow / OK / 57.6 mi. 61 4,529 1.3 $24,497 28.2 3.6 4.5 14.3 0.2
75550 / Annona / TX / 40.9 mi. 56 367 15.3 $27,240 30.1 9.9 17.4 0.8 0.0
71862 / Washington / AR / 41.3 mi. 33 342 9.6 $22,656 57.4 3.7 52.4 0.7 0.0
75656 / Hughes Springs / TX / 31.8 mi. 32 1,792 1.8 $30,818 17.3 2.4 13.7 0.5 0.0
71846 / Lockesburg / AR / 38.6 mi. 29 1,089 2.7 $29,000 17.5 1.9 12.7 0.9 0.1
75657 / Jefferson / TX / 39.9 mi. 25 3,536 0.7 $26,005 31.4 1.8 27.5 0.5 0.3
71825 / Blevins / AR / 53.8 mi. 24 252 9.5 $36,563 25.9 12.3 12.0 0.4 0.0
71770 / Waldo / AR / 51.7 mi. 21 1,436 1.5 $25,685 41.4 1.0 39.5 0.5 0.0
71866 / Winthrop / AR / 36.5 mi. 8 258 3.1 $28,036 5.9 1.0 0.8 1.9 0.0
File tx_texarkana_gazette
Time 5/19/05 6:19 PM
Page 334
Member 146700