Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists | ||||||||||
at America's daily newspapers | ||||||||||
with the communities that they serve | ||||||||||
Newsroom diversity report for | ||||||||||
The Brownsville Herald | ||||||||||
Brownsville, Texas | ||||||||||
Owner: Freedom Communications (Ca.) | ||||||||||
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 | 64.7 | |||||||||
2002 | 67.6 | |||||||||
2001 | Did not report | |||||||||
2000 | 69.2 | |||||||||
1999 | 59.3 | |||||||||
1998 | 59.3 | |||||||||
1997 | 53.8 | |||||||||
1996 | 50.0 | |||||||||
1995 | Did not report | |||||||||
1994 | Did not report | |||||||||
1993 | 45.0 | |||||||||
1992 | 43.5 | |||||||||
1991 | 50.0 | |||||||||
1990 | 45.5 | |||||||||
The latest year at peak is | 2000 | |||||||||
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures. | ||||||||||
Newsroom Diversity Index | ||||||||||
for The Brownsville Herald | ||||||||||
Year | Non-white % of newsroom staff | Non-white % of circulation area | Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100) | |||||||
2005 | N/A | 89.4 | N/A | |||||||
2004 | N/A | 90.4 | 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, Freedom Communications (Ca.), | ||||||||||
has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 59. | ||||||||||
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures. | ||||||||||
Peer group comparison | ||||||||||
for The Brownsville Herald | ||||||||||
This paper | ||||||||||
Peer group | ||||||||||
The median Diversity Index is 33 for all newspapers | ||||||||||
reporting in this circulation category of 10,001 to 25,000 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 Laredo Morning Times, Texas, with a 91.3 percent non-white staff in a community that is 94.4 percent non-white. Its index is 97. | ||||||||||
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of | ||||||||||
approximately 14,787 ranks 615 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 Brownsville Herald | ||||||||||
Circulation area | ||||||||||
Race/ethnicity | % of population | Number of residents |
|
|||||||
Hispanic | 89.4 | 165,789 | ||||||||
Black | 0.2 | 356 | ||||||||
Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.5 | 859 | ||||||||
Native-American | 0.1 | 141 | ||||||||
Other non-white | 0.0 | 53 | ||||||||
Multi-racial | 0.2 | 396 | ||||||||
Non-white | 90.4 | 167,594 | ||||||||
White | 9.6 | 17,842 | ||||||||
Total | 185,436 | |||||||||
Home county: Cameron | ||||||||||
Race/ethnicity | % of population | Number of residents |
|
|||||||
Hispanic | 84.3 | 282,736 | ||||||||
Black | 0.3 | 909 | ||||||||
Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.5 | 1,563 | ||||||||
Native-American | 0.1 | 334 | ||||||||
Other non-white | 0.0 | 118 | ||||||||
Multi-racial | 0.3 | 888 | ||||||||
Non-white | 85.5 | 286,548 | ||||||||
White | 14.5 | 48,679 | ||||||||
Total | 335,227 | |||||||||
The home county of this newspaper is Cameron. | ||||||||||
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 Brownsville 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 |
|
78521 / Brownsville / TX / 3.8 mi. | 6,415 | 22,176 | 28.9 | $23,426 | 94.0 | 93.4 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.3 | |
78520 / Villa Nueva / TX / 0 mi. | 3,327 | 13,934 | 23.9 | $21,715 | 90.6 | 89.7 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.4 | |
78526 / Brownsville / TX / 0.8 mi. | 2,861 | 6,758 | 42.3 | $31,710 | 91.2 | 89.5 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 1.1 | |
78575 / Rancho Viejo / TX / 5 mi. | 738 | 1,248 | 59.1 | $39,952 | 73.6 | 70.7 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 2.0 | |
78566 / Los Fresnos / TX / 9.7 mi. | 407 | 3,257 | 12.5 | $24,858 | 84.2 | 82.8 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.3 | |
78578 / Port Isabel / TX / 18.6 mi. | 393 | 3,364 | 11.7 | $26,569 | 69.9 | 68.9 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.2 | |
78597 / South Padre Isla / TX / 23.2 mi. | 156 | 1,418 | 11.0 | $41,794 | 23.6 | 21.5 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.3 | |
78586 / Yescas / TX / 14.9 mi. | 50 | 12,699 | 0.4 | $24,014 | 89.7 | 89.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.2 | |
78550 / Stuart Place / TX / 19.9 mi. | 48 | 16,555 | 0.3 | $29,223 | 76.5 | 74.3 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 0.9 | |
File | tx_the_brownsville_herald | |||||||||
Time | 5/21/05 5:21 PM | |||||||||
Page | 614 | |||||||||
Member | 145800 |