Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
The Roanoke Times
Roanoke, Virginia
Owner: Landmark Communications (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	6.0
2004	4.2
2003	8.4
2002	8.9
2001	5.8
2000	7.2
1999	7.0
1998	6.2
1997	5.2
1996	5.4
1995	10.7
1994	8.3
1993	7.4
1992	8.0
1991	9.6
1990	9.7
The latest year at peak is	1995
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Newsroom Diversity Index
for The Roanoke Times
Year	Non-white % of newsroom staff	Non-white % of circulation area	Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005	6.0	11.6	52
2004	4.2	11.7	36
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, Landmark Communications (Va.),
has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 38.
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Peer group comparison
for The Roanoke Times
This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 52.				This paper
				Peer group
Compare that with 50, which is the median Diversity Index for all newspapers
reporting in this circulation category of 50,001 to 100,000 daily sales.
In that group, this newspaper's Diversity Index ranks 42 out of 90
newspapers reporting in the category of 50,001 to 100,000 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 Lincoln Journal Star, Nebraska, with a 9.9 percent non-white staff in a community that is 8.3 percent non-white. Its index is 119.
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of
approximately 98,687 ranks 105 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 Roanoke Times
	Circulation area
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	1.2	7,994
Black	8.0	51,704
Asian and Pacific Islander	1.2	7,480
Native-American	0.2	1,075
Other non-white	0.1	640
Multi-racial	1.0	6,102
Non-white	11.7	74,995
White	88.3	568,026
Total		643,021
	Home county:  Roanoke
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	1.0	888
Black	3.3	2,855
Asian and Pacific Islander	1.6	1,377
Native-American	0.1	96
Other non-white	0.1	73
Multi-racial	0.8	680
Non-white	7.0	5,969
White	93.0	79,809
Total		85,778
The home county of this newspaper is Roanoke.
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 Roanoke Times
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
24153 / Salem / VA / 7.3 mi.	8,223	14,104	58.3	$40,477	7.1	0.7	4.6	0.1	0.8
24018 / Roanoke / VA / 5.4 mi.	7,881	12,126	65.0	$55,734	6.2	1.2	2.0	0.1	2.2
24012 / Roanoke / VA / 2 mi.	5,871	12,197	48.1	$31,691	19.0	1.7	13.7	0.2	1.6
24060 / Blacksburg / VA / 24.6 mi.	5,382	16,905	31.8	$26,390	14.8	2.1	3.9	0.1	6.6
24019 / Roanoke / VA / 4.3 mi.	5,308	9,518	55.8	$49,801	10.6	1.0	7.0	0.2	1.4
24014 / South Roanoke / VA / 2.5 mi.	5,273	10,277	51.3	$42,416	8.4	1.2	4.0	0.1	2.0
24073 / Prices Fork / VA / 25.2 mi.	4,639	10,248	45.3	$39,777	6.1	0.9	3.8	0.2	0.3
24017 / Roanoke / VA / 2.9 mi.	3,961	9,449	41.9	$26,216	70.4	1.2	66.1	0.1	0.9
24179 / Vinton / VA / 3.1 mi.	3,798	7,212	52.7	$39,351	4.1	0.8	2.0	0.1	0.5
24015 / Roanoke / VA / 2.2 mi.	3,454	7,519	45.9	$37,314	7.7	1.1	4.2	0.1	1.0
24141 / Radford / VA / 33.6 mi.	2,905	8,358	34.8	$29,281	10.2	0.9	6.8	0.2	1.0
24151 / Rocky Mount / VA / 17.7 mi.	2,597	7,146	36.3	$31,761	20.2	1.6	17.0	0.2	0.6
24450 / West Lexington / VA / 41.4 mi.	1,968	5,740	34.3	$35,595	8.8	1.0	5.6	0.2	1.2
24523 / Bedford / VA / 21.8 mi.	1,846	7,207	25.6	$35,117	17.2	0.7	15.1	0.2	0.4
24121 / Scruggs / VA / 18.1 mi.	1,663	3,651	45.5	$42,042	6.8	1.0	4.9	0.2	0.1
24301 / Snowville / VA / 44.9 mi.	1,458	6,516	22.4	$28,160	9.5	1.6	6.4	0.1	0.4
24084 / Dublin / VA / 39.7 mi.	1,390	4,289	32.4	$38,621	7.9	0.5	6.0	0.1	0.3
24382 / Wytheville / VA / 62.6 mi.	1,368	5,917	23.1	$30,947	6.7	0.6	4.5	0.1	0.6
24175 / Troutville / VA / 8.7 mi.	1,331	3,121	42.6	$50,296	4.9	0.4	3.3	0.1	0.4
24426 / Jordan Mines / VA / 33 mi.	1,228	6,463	19.0	$35,404	9.0	0.4	6.8	0.3	0.5
24333 / Meadowcreek / VA / 64.1 mi.	1,212	7,533	16.1	$29,503	10.4	5.7	3.6	0.2	0.3
24013 / Roanoke / VA / 0.8 mi.	1,175	3,190	36.8	$23,402	9.8	1.3	5.1	0.3	0.9
24134 / Pearisburg / VA / 40.7 mi.	1,074	2,388	45.0	$37,551	4.0	0.6	2.3	0.0	0.3
24016 / Roanoke / VA / 0.6 mi.	1,052	4,003	26.3	$18,869	51.4	2.4	45.1	0.3	0.9
24091 / Floyd / VA / 30.2 mi.	890	2,708	32.9	$29,551	5.6	1.8