Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Richmond, Virginia
Owner: Media General (Va.)
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	12.9
2004	11.6
2003	11.5
2002	10.7
2001	12.8
2000	10.5
1999	11.8
1998	10.5
1997	11.4
1996	10.6
1995	10.3
1994	9.8
1993	8.5
1992	9.9
1991	10.0
1990	10.5
The latest year at peak is	2005
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Newsroom Diversity Index
for Richmond Times-Dispatch
Year	Non-white % of newsroom staff	Non-white % of circulation area	Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005	12.9	36.6	35
2004	11.6	36.8	32
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, Media General (Va.),
has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 39.
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Peer group comparison
for Richmond Times-Dispatch
This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 35.				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 50 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 184,950 ranks 55 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 Richmond Times-Dispatch
	Circulation area
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	2.1	26,461
Black	31.5	404,798
Asian and Pacific Islander	1.7	21,623
Native-American	0.3	4,285
Other non-white	0.1	1,694
Multi-racial	1.1	13,487
Non-white	36.8	472,348
White	63.2	812,624
Total		1,284,972
	Home county:  Richmond city
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	2.6	5,074
Black	56.9	112,455
Asian and Pacific Islander	1.3	2,503
Native-American	0.2	460
Other non-white	0.2	319
Multi-racial	1.3	2,473
Non-white	62.3	123,284
White	37.7	74,506
Total		197,790
The home county of this newspaper is Richmond city.
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
Richmond Times-Dispatch
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
23233 / Ridge / VA / 18.9 mi.	9,570	19,803	48.3	$67,917	12.0	1.8	4.7	0.1	4.3
23228 / Staples Mill / VA / 14.8 mi.	7,983	14,577	54.8	$38,285	32.6	3.4	22.8	0.4	3.9
23225 / Richmond / VA / 10.5 mi.	7,592	17,950	42.3	$35,101	54.2	3.8	46.3	0.3	2.0
23229 / Westbury / VA / 15.9 mi.	7,043	12,877	54.7	$57,251	11.2	1.9	5.0	0.2	3.3
23223 / Richmond / VA / 7.9 mi.	6,376	16,951	37.6	$27,936	87.1	1.0	84.5	0.3	0.3
23060 / Glen Allen / VA / 17.6 mi.	6,275	10,518	59.7	$60,564	26.1	1.7	17.6	0.2	5.2
23235 / Richmond / VA / 13.4 mi.	6,215	11,937	52.1	$56,989	20.1	2.1	14.4	0.2	2.2
23227 / Richmond / VA / 13 mi.	5,429	10,644	51.0	$36,568	53.7	1.5	49.3	0.2	1.3
23112 / Midlothian / VA / 16.8 mi.	5,245	13,846	37.9	$63,519	14.3	1.9	9.1	0.3	2.0
23111 / Mechanicsvlle / VA / 12.4 mi.	5,152	11,662	44.2	$55,425	9.6	1.1	6.4	0.4	0.8
23059 / Glen Allen / VA / 22 mi.	5,071	5,939	85.4	$73,668	13.7	1.7	7.5	0.2	3.4
23220 / Saunders / VA / 9.8 mi.	5,030	13,396	37.5	$26,557	51.7	1.9	44.3	0.3	3.2
23234 / Richmond / VA / 8 mi.	4,544	14,408	31.5	$40,522	58.8	7.5	46.7	0.4	2.7
23113 / Sycamore Square / VA / 18.9 mi.	4,395	10,624	41.4	$84,460	10.6	1.4	5.2	0.1	3.1
23116 / Mechanicsville / VA / 12.1 mi.	4,044	7,739	52.3	$74,319	8.5	0.9	5.4	0.2	1.1
23226 / Westhampton / VA / 13.6 mi.	3,995	7,004	57.0	$50,519	12.7	3.1	5.7	0.3	2.4
23224 / Richmond / VA / 8.6 mi.	3,896	12,448	31.3	$27,132	83.0	5.9	74.5	0.3	0.9
23236 / Richmond / VA / 13.6 mi.	3,760	8,744	43.0	$64,847	22.0	1.7	15.6	0.3	3.1
23222 / Richmond / VA / 10.4 mi.	3,757	10,278	36.6	$29,570	92.0	1.0	89.4	0.3	0.3
23831 / Chester / VA / 9.3 mi.	3,672	9,251	39.7	$56,807	18.5	2.7	11.6	0.4	2.4
23231 / Varina / VA / 0.1 mi.	3,667	10,464	35.0	$43,600	52.4	1.1	49.1	0.5	0.5
23832 / Chesterfield / VA / 13.3 mi.	3,169	8,629	36.7	$61,738	25.5	2.2	20.0	0.4	1.5
23221 / Stewart / VA / 11.3 mi.	2,903	7,496	38.7	$39,943	17.8	1.6	13.1	0.3	1.6
23834 / Colonial Heights / VA / 10.6 mi.	2,573	9,729	26.4	$45,496	20.2	1.8	14.6	0.2	2.4
23219 / Richmond / VA / 8.8 mi.	2,456	987	248.8	$11,306	77.3