Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk
Norfolk, 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	13.7
2004	9.7
2003	12.2
2002	13.7
2001	13.9
2000	14.0
1999	12.1
1998	11.5
1997	13.1
1996	10.4
1995	9.6
1994	10.6
1993	12.6
1992	9.5
1991	9.2
1990	5.7
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 Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk
Year	Non-white % of newsroom staff	Non-white % of circulation area	Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005	13.7	39.1	35
2004	9.7	39.1	25
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 Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk
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 52 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 200,055 ranks 49 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 Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk
	Circulation area
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	2.9	35,919
Black	31.2	385,322
Asian and Pacific Islander	2.7	33,360
Native-American	0.4	4,513
Other non-white	0.2	1,980
Multi-racial	1.7	20,889
Non-white	39.1	481,983
White	60.9	752,096
Total		1,234,079
	Home county:  Norfolk city
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	3.8	8,915
Black	43.6	102,268
Asian and Pacific Islander	2.9	6,697
Native-American	0.4	971
Other non-white	0.2	483
Multi-racial	2.1	4,848
Non-white	53.0	124,182
White	47.0	110,221
Total		234,403
The home county of this newspaper is Norfolk 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
The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk
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
23454 / Virginia Beach / VA / 14.6 mi.	13,310	22,576	59.0	$48,943	22.5	4.8	12.8	0.4	2.3
23464 / Virginia Beach / VA / 7 mi.	13,185	24,179	54.5	$53,486	36.7	3.7	21.1	0.3	9.1
23452 / Virginia Beach / VA / 10.8 mi.	11,907	22,320	53.3	$45,984	28.1	4.3	17.5	0.4	3.4
23455 / Virginia Beach / VA / 8.1 mi.	10,318	17,703	58.3	$48,841	22.9	3.5	12.6	0.3	4.0
23451 / Virginia Beach / VA / 15.9 mi.	10,187	19,220	53.0	$45,014	16.9	3.1	10.0	0.4	1.5
23456 / Virginia Beach / VA / 15.4 mi.	9,917	24,107	41.1	$55,124	36.0	4.6	20.2	0.3	8.0
23322 / Chesapeake / VA / 15.9 mi.	9,889	16,912	58.5	$65,818	16.1	1.9	11.3	0.3	1.3
23462 / Virginia Beach / VA / 7.6 mi.	8,604	22,278	38.6	$41,298	42.4	4.5	31.1	0.4	3.9
23320 / Chesapeake / VA / 7.9 mi.	7,329	17,065	42.9	$49,816	36.7	2.9	28.0	0.3	3.4
23434 / Suffolk / VA / 19.8 mi.	6,049	14,872	40.7	$35,211	52.8	1.1	49.9	0.2	0.5
23321 / Chesapeake / VA / 8.3 mi.	5,965	10,685	55.8	$55,785	31.9	1.7	26.1	0.3	2.5
23518 / Norfolk / VA / 5.8 mi.	4,965	12,027	41.3	$36,428	35.4	4.1	23.5	0.4	4.3
23701 / Portsmouth / VA / 5.4 mi.	4,735	10,400	45.5	$36,188	57.4	1.0	54.3	0.4	0.5
23503 / Norfolk / VA / 6.6 mi.	4,633	13,410	34.5	$33,605	35.5	7.1	22.1	0.7	2.9
23703 / Portsmouth / VA / 5.3 mi.	4,618	9,673	47.7	$44,375	45.5	2.9	38.8	0.5	1.6
23323 / Chesapeake / VA / 11.3 mi.	4,394	10,434	42.1	$49,350	42.0	2.0	37.0	0.4	1.1
23505 / Norfolk / VA / 4.7 mi.	3,970	12,155	32.7	$31,275	46.1	5.2	33.6	0.5	3.7
23502 / Norfolk / VA / 4.2 mi.	3,639	7,757	46.9	$37,431	56.1	3.2	47.8	0.3	2.9
23517 / Norfolk / VA / 1.3 mi.	3,639	2,112	172.3	$31,530	39.3	2.8	32.0	0.5	2.2
23325 / Chesapeake / VA / 4 mi.	3,135	6,338	49.5	$42,758	41.9	1.8	37.0	0.5	1.0
23704 / Portsmouth / VA / 2.3 mi.	2,604	7,448	35.0	$25,228	79.7	1.2	76.5	0.3	0.5
23707 / Portsmouth / VA / 3.1 mi.	2,453	6,243	39.3	$29,225	44.0	1.2	40.0	0.6	0.5
23324 / Chesapeake / VA / 3.7 mi.	2,350	8,466	27.8	$27,523	59.7	1.4	55.4	0.4	0.9
23504 / Norfolk / VA / 1.2 mi.	2,317	8,114	28.6	$15,779	95.5	1.3	92.8	0.2	0.2
27909 / Elizabeth City / NC / 38.3 mi.	2,107	12,907	16.3	$30,444