Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
Valley Morning Star, Harlingen
Harlingen, 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	Did not report
2002	Did not report
2001	55.6
2000	60.7
1999	Did not report
1998	48.0
1997	Did not report
1996	Did not report
1995	Did not report
1994	25.0
1993	38.1
1992	29.4
1991	32.4
1990	32.1
The latest year at peak is	2000
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Newsroom Diversity Index
for Valley Morning Star, Harlingen
Year	Non-white % of newsroom staff	Non-white % of circulation area	Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005	N/A	81.7	N/A
2004	N/A	83.2	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 Valley Morning Star, Harlingen
		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 20,446 ranks 476 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 Valley Morning Star, Harlingen
	Circulation area
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	82.0	222,317
Black	0.4	1,096
Asian and Pacific Islander	0.4	1,131
Native-American	0.1	295
Other non-white	0.0	107
Multi-racial	0.3	738
Non-white	83.2	225,684
White	16.8	45,475
Total		271,159
	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
Valley Morning Star, Harlingen
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
78550 / Stuart Place / TX / 3 mi.	8,859	16,555	53.5	$29,223	76.5	74.3	0.7	0.2	0.9
78586 / Yescas / TX / 7.8 mi.	3,005	12,699	23.7	$24,014	89.7	89.2	0.1	0.1	0.2
78552 / Harlingen / TX / 1.5 mi.	2,458	9,687	25.4	$32,432	71.5	70.4	0.4	0.1	0.3
78559 / Lafkin / TX / 6 mi.	1,356	2,987	45.4	$25,417	77.1	76.1	0.1	0.1	0.3
78570 / Thayer / TX / 11.3 mi.	1,168	7,759	15.1	$21,053	93.6	93.4	0.1	0.0	0.0
78596 / Weslaco / TX / 14.8 mi.	1,080	14,088	7.7	$24,628	89.3	88.3	0.1	0.1	0.7
78580 / Willamar / TX / 17.8 mi.	847	3,717	22.8	$20,795	89.3	85.9	2.8	0.1	0.2
78578 / Port Isabel / TX / 29.7 mi.	648	3,364	19.3	$26,569	69.9	68.9	0.3	0.2	0.2
78597 / South Padre Isla / TX / 33.6 mi.	561	1,418	39.6	$41,794	23.6	21.5	0.5	0.4	0.3
78583 / Rio Hondo / TX / 9.2 mi.	514	1,599	32.1	$24,307	80.1	79.0	0.1	0.0	0.6
78566 / Los Fresnos / TX / 16.9 mi.	473	3,257	14.5	$24,858	84.2	82.8	0.3	0.2	0.3
78520 / Villa Nueva / TX / 22.2 mi.	448	13,934	3.2	$21,715	90.6	89.7	0.2	0.1	0.4
78593 / Santa Rosa / TX / 5.8 mi.	200	1,155	17.3	$24,523	93.6	92.6	0.2	0.1	0.1
78598 / Raymondville / TX / 28.8 mi.	197	187	105.3	$26,500	16.4	14.2	0.0	1.0	0.0
78569 / Stockholm / TX / 10 mi.	190	1,566	12.1	$23,837	90.4	89.7	0.2	0.1	0.0
78501 / McAllen / TX / 28.9 mi.	145	18,696	0.8	$26,701	85.9	84.0	0.4	0.1	1.2
78575 / Rancho Viejo / TX / 17.7 mi.	131	1,248	10.5	$39,952	73.6	70.7	0.2	0.1	2.0
78537 / La Tijera / TX / 18.5 mi.	98	8,327	1.2	$21,675	89.0	88.6	0.1	0.1	0.1
78594 / Sebastian / TX / 9.3 mi.	86	146	58.9	$34,432	93.3	93.3	0.0	0.0	0.0
78577 / Pharr / TX / 26 mi.	73	13,010	0.6	$24,216	91.3	90.7	0.1	0.1	0.2
78579 / Progreso / TX / 14.9 mi.	68	721	9.4	$18,836	98.7	98.6	0.0	0.0	0.1
78543 / Engelman / TX / 15.8 mi.	27	2,133	1.3	$18,973	97.6	97.4	0.0	0.1	0.0
File	tx_valley_morning_star__harlingen
Time	5/21/05 9:57 AM
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