Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
The Burlington Free Press
Burlington, Vermont
Owner: Gannett Co. (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 8.0
2004 5.9
2003 7.5
2002 6.0
2001 8.1
2000 6.1
1999 6.1
1998 10.9
1997 10.9
1996 10.2
1995 9.1
1994 6.3
1993 8.2
1992 8.5
1991 2.1
1990 5.6
The latest year at peak is 1998
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Newsroom Diversity Index
for The Burlington Free Press
Year Non-white % of newsroom staff Non-white % of circulation area Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005 8.0 4.8 168
2004 5.9 4.7 125
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, Gannett Co. (Va.),
has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 89.
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Peer group comparison
for The Burlington Free Press
This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 168. This paper
Peer group
Compare that with 44, which is the median Diversity Index for all newspapers
reporting in this circulation category of 25,001 to 50,000 daily sales.
In that group, this newspaper's Diversity Index ranks 6 out of 140
newspapers reporting in the category of 25,001 to 50,000 daily sales.
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of
approximately 48,524 ranks 216 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 Burlington Free Press
Circulation area
Race/ethnicity % of population Number of residents
Hispanic 1.0 2,898
Black 0.6 1,903
Asian and Pacific Islander 1.2 3,700
Native-American 0.5 1,473
Other non-white 0.1 328
Multi-racial 1.3 3,852
  Non-white 4.7 14,154
White 95.3 286,165
Total 300,319
Home county:  Chittenden
Race/ethnicity % of population Number of residents
Hispanic 1.1 1,561
Black 0.9 1,283
Asian and Pacific Islander 2.0 2,929
Native-American 0.3 380
Other non-white 0.1 206
Multi-racial 1.2 1,790
  Non-white 5.6 8,149
White 94.4 138,422
Total 146,571
The home county of this newspaper is Chittenden.
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 Burlington Free Press
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
05401 / South Burlington / VT / 4.3 mi. 7,184 15,907 45.2 $33,049 8.5 1.4 1.7 0.4 2.7
05403 / South Burlington / VT / 4.3 mi. 4,201 6,290 66.8 $51,705 7.1 1.2 0.8 0.2 3.4
05452 / Pinewood / VT / 1.7 mi. 3,865 6,953 55.6 $59,137 5.2 0.8 0.9 0.2 2.2
05446 / Saint Michaels College / VT / 4.5 mi. 2,739 6,243 43.9 $51,189 4.3 1.1 0.6 0.2 1.6
05478 / Saint Albans / VT / 20 mi. 2,072 5,773 35.9 $40,907 4.0 0.7 0.3 1.0 0.4
05495 / Williston / VT / 4.3 mi. 1,999 3,186 62.7 $59,859 3.3 1.0 0.5 0.1 1.1
05468 / West Milton / VT / 8.6 mi. 1,587 3,922 40.5 $50,780 2.3 0.6 0.3 0.4 0.3
05482 / Shelburne / VT / 8.5 mi. 1,345 2,652 50.7 $67,750 3.1 0.9 0.2 0.1 1.0
05753 / Weybridge Hill / VT / 31.7 mi. 1,207 3,391 35.6 $39,710 6.0 1.9 0.9 0.2 1.6
05404 / Winooski / VT / 2.8 mi. 1,134 2,944 38.5 $30,592 10.0 1.1 1.2 0.5 5.4
05461 / Mechanicsburg / VT / 12.8 mi. 985 1,622 60.7 $50,536 2.5 0.8 0.1 0.2 0.5
05465 / West Bolton / VT / 7 mi. 891 1,870 47.6 $62,989 3.2 1.1 0.6 0.1 0.6
05661 / Mud City / VT / 24.4 mi. 869 2,202 39.5 $34,271 3.1 0.7 0.3 0.4 0.5
05488 / West Swanton / VT / 26.8 mi. 816 2,738 29.8 $40,979 7.4 0.5 0.4 3.7 0.4
05602 / Montpelier Junction / VT / 30.1 mi. 816 5,400 15.1 $40,331 4.2 1.1 0.5 0.3 0.7
05491 / West Ferrisburg / VT / 22.7 mi. 789 2,196 35.9 $45,242 4.8 1.6 0.9 0.2 0.4
05454 / Fairfax / VT / 13.4 mi. 743 1,290 57.6 $52,857 3.0 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.4
05443 / West Lincoln / VT / 23.8 mi. 660 2,415 27.3 $45,551 2.4 0.7 0.2 0.2 0.5
05676 / Waterbury / VT / 20.2 mi. 657 1,905 34.5 $43,165 2.3 0.4 0.2 0.1 0.6
05445 / Charlotte / VT / 13.7 mi. 650 1,287 50.5 $62,313 2.5 0.7 0.2 0.1 0.6
05477 / Richmond / VT / 9.4 mi. 632 1,709 37.0 $56,713 2.1 0.7 0.0 0.2 0.4
05641 / Trow Hill / VT / 35 mi. 625 7,273 8.6 $36,176 3.3 1.6 0.3 0.2 0.4
05855 / West Derby / VT / 50.8 mi. 580 3,171 18.3 $30,000 4.2 1.1 0.6 0.6 0.4
05672 / Stowe / VT / 22 mi. 572 1,915 29.9 $52,378 3.1 1.1 0.3 0.3 0.4
05450 / Woodpecker Village / VT / 29.4 mi. 427 1,832 23.3 $36,138 3.8 0.5 0.3 1.1 0.2
05489 / Underhill Flats / VT / 12.5 mi. 425 1,122 37.9 $65,893 2.1 0.7 0.4 0.1 0.3
05701 / South Chittenden / VT / 58.3 mi. 421 9,397 4.5 $33,507 2.6 0.8 0.4 0.2 0.5
05464 / Smugglers Notch / VT / 18.7 mi. 373 954 39.1 $45,857 3.1 0.6 0.3 0.4 0.1
05486 / South Hero / VT / 24.1 mi. 346 649 53.3 $51,484 2.4 0.4 0.2 0.5 0.3
03784 / West Lebanon / NH / 66.9 mi. 338 1,627 20.8 $42,397 9.2 2.6 1.0 0.4 3.6
05458 / Point Farm / VT / 15.8 mi. 302 786 38.4 $49,167 3.0 0.7 0.2 0.3 0.3
05819 / West Waterford / VT / 50.2 mi. 302 3,824 7.9 $32,357 4.2 1.0 0.5 0.7 0.6
05476 / Richford / VT / 37.8 mi. 296 1,224 24.2 $30,250 2.9 0.8 0.3 1.1 0.0
05656 / Johnson / VT / 22.4 mi. 291 1,184 24.6 $31,440 4.1 0.8 0.6 0.5 0.7
05673 / Waitsfield Common / VT / 24.2 mi. 266 1,035 25.7 $47,632 3.3 1.2 0.7 0.1 0.3
05494 / Westford / VT / 9.7 mi. 262 643 40.7 $61,477 2.9 1.1 0.3 0.1 0.5
05663 / West Berlin / VT / 31.5 mi. 262 1,959 13.4 $44,324 6.2 2.2 0.9 0.4 1.3
05440 / Alburg / VT / 30 mi. 241 791 30.5 $33,148 3.5 0.2 0.0 2.0 0.2
05851 / Wheelock / VT / 51.6 mi. 231 2,361 9.8 $32,924 2.6 0.4 0.2 0.5 0.6
05456 / Ferrisburg / VT / 19.9 mi. 222 471 47.1 $46,518 3.3 0.2 0.4 0.4 0.9
05843 / South Walden / VT / 35.3 mi. 210 1,041 20.2 $33,468 2.4 0.4 0.1 0.8 0.0
05655 / Hyde Park / VT / 26.9 mi. 181 1,116 16.2 $38,510 2.8 0.8 0.3 0.5 0.4
05822 / Westmore / VT / 46.1 mi. 171 700 24.4 $31,908 2.6 0.2 0.2 0.5 0.1
05462 / Huntington Lower Village / VT / 13.5 mi. 170 698 24.4 $49,485 2.7 0.4 0.4 0.2 0.5
05734 / Bridport / VT / 37.6 mi. 169 473 35.7 $43,828 1.7 0.1 0.0 0.2 0.4
05457 / Shawville / VT / 34.8 mi. 163 536 30.4 $45,263 3.8 0.1 0.3 1.7 0.2
05829 / Derby / VT / 53.3 mi. 157 726 21.6 $30,847 2.9 0.7 0.2 0.6 0.2
05455 / Fairfield / VT / 18.6 mi. 155 358 43.3 $50,089 3.5 1.1 0.0 0.7 0.2
12901 / South Plattsburgh / NY / 19.9 mi. 150 12,782 1.2 $33,121 6.3 1.7 1.8 0.4 1.1
05859 / North Troy / VT / 41.2 mi. 149 710 21.0 $31,991 2.2 0.5 0.1 0.4 0.3
05487 / Starksboro / VT / 19 mi. 147 539 27.3 $44,904 3.3 0.2 0.3 0.3 0.6
05826 / East Craftsbury / VT / 36.5 mi. 144 339 42.5 $32,679 4.9 1.2 0.5 0.1 0.6
05492 / Waterville / VT / 21.9 mi. 137 271 50.6 $39,531 2.6 0.0 0.0 0.4 0.3
05459 / Rixford / VT / 29.5 mi. 129 678 19.0 $43,068 6.8 0.2 0.0 3.9 0.2
05860 / Westmore / VT / 46.6 mi. 129 977 13.2 $28,125 2.7 0.3 0.2 0.9 0.4
05474 / North Hero / VT / 23.5 mi. 120 333 36.0 $45,577 3.0 0.6 0.3 0.3 0.4
05473 / The Hollow / VT / 17.1 mi. 118 508 23.2 $54,485 2.1 0.5 0.0 0.5 0.5
05652 / Eden / VT / 27.7 mi. 116 244 47.5 $34,896 6.3 1.6 0.3 1.9 0.1
05472 / New Haven Mills / VT / 25.2 mi. 115 609 18.9 $47,266 2.4 0.8 0.2 0.6 0.0
05677 / Waterbury Center / VT / 20.2 mi. 107 751 14.2 $51,515 3.1 1.0 0.3 0.2 0.7
05444 / Pleasant Valley / VT / 15.7 mi. 105 552 19.0 $51,429 4.5 1.2 0.3 0.3 0.1
05060 / West Brookfield / VT / 43.1 mi. 101 1,857 5.4 $38,140 2.4 0.5 0.1 0.2 0.6
05660 / South Duxbury / VT / 23.8 mi. 95 526 18.1 $51,736 2.5 1.2 0.1 0.2 0.5
05651 / East Montpelier / VT / 34.2 mi. 83 561 14.8 $43,935 3.8 1.4 0.8 0.1 0.2
05770 / Shoreham / VT / 41.1 mi. 76 390 19.5 $40,000 1.9 0.5 0.7 0.2 0.4
05201 / Woodford / VT / 104.7 mi. 69 6,313 1.1 $34,417 3.5 1.0 0.6 0.3 0.8
05301 / West Brattleboro / VT / 109.1 mi. 62 7,154 0.9 $35,060 5.8 1.4 0.8 0.2 1.4
05846 / Island Pond / VT / 62.4 mi. 55 542 10.1 $26,534 5.0 0.3 0.2 1.0 0.5
05674 / Warren / VT / 26.8 mi. 54 742 7.3 $47,438 3.0 1.0 0.2 0.4 0.2
05441 / Bakersfield / VT / 27.7 mi. 51 165 30.9 $38,750 0.9 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
05463 / Isle La Motte / VT / 25.6 mi. 51 202 25.2 $36,125 2.3 0.0 0.0 1.2 0.2
05649 / East Barre / VT / 38.5 mi. 44 97 45.4 $46,417 1.5 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
05828 / Danville Center / VT / 46.7 mi. 38 795 4.8 $42,204 1.4 0.4 0.2 0.3 0.2
05471 / Montgomery Center / VT / 33.5 mi. 37 282 13.1 $33,875 4.4 0.4 0.3 0.6 0.0
15401 / Uniontown / PA / 432.8 mi. 36 15,083 0.2 $26,013 8.8 0.4 6.7 0.1 0.5
05868 / Troy / VT / 44 mi. 33 41 80.5 $27,500 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
05667 / Plainfield / VT / 37.1 mi. 32 950 3.4 $40,387 4.9 1.0 1.0 0.5 0.5
05760 / Orwell / VT / 47 mi. 29 431 6.7 $41,364 2.0 0.9 0.4 0.1 0.4
05825 / Coventry / VT / 47.1 mi. 29 41 70.7 $25,833 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
05679 / Williamstown / VT / 37.3 mi. 28 1,135 2.5 $39,311 2.2 0.8 0.1 0.1 0.1
05827 / Mill Village / VT / 34 mi. 28 113 24.8 $42,500 3.7 1.5 0.0 0.6 0.0
05845 / Irasburg / VT / 43.4 mi. 28 420 6.7 $35,000 2.1 0.3 0.0 0.8 0.3
12919 / Perrys Mills / NY / 32.3 mi. 27 1,201 2.2 $35,964 2.3 0.8 0.3 0.2 0.4
05680 / Wolcott / VT / 29.5 mi. 25 750 3.3 $36,683 1.6 0.5 0.2 0.2 0.2
05832 / East Burke / VT / 55.7 mi. 24 359 6.7 $43,000 2.7 0.5 0.2 0.4 0.1
05830 / Holland / VT / 56.7 mi. 23 607 3.8 $31,696 3.0 0.3 0.2 1.3 0.4
05483 / Sweek Hollow / VT / 25.9 mi. 21 499 4.2 $41,667 6.4 0.6 0.1 3.0 0.1
05857 / Newport Center / VT / 50.7 mi. 21 567 3.7 $34,677 3.0 0.6 0.1 0.8 0.3
05873 / West Danville / VT / 41.5 mi. 21 221 9.5 $41,250 1.2 0.7 0.0 0.2 0.0
05658 / Marshfield / VT / 37.3 mi. 20 543 3.7 $41,213 3.4 0.9 0.2 0.2 0.4
05839 / Glover / VT / 43.3 mi. 20 283 7.1 $34,432 3.8 0.7 0.0 1.0 0.3
05853 / Morgan Center / VT / 58.7 mi. 20 208 9.6 $36,375 2.8 1.1 0.4 0.4 0.2
05657 / Morrisville / VT / 27.6 mi. 19 33 57.6 $34,688 1.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
05448 / East Fairfield / VT / 21.4 mi. 17 534 3.2 $41,211 3.9 0.7 0.1 0.4 0.4
05841 / Greensboro / VT / 38.4 mi. 17 156 10.9 $37,708 2.2 0.8 0.3 0.6 0.0
05647 / East Cabot / VT / 38.7 mi. 15 344 4.4 $44,135 4.0 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.1
05842 / Stannard / VT / 41.9 mi. 14 155 9.0 $33,819 5.2 0.0 0.0 1.0 0.0
05836 / East Hardwick / VT / 37.7 mi. 12 438 2.7 $36,932 1.8 0.3 0.4 0.4 0.2
05847 / Lowell / VT / 35.8 mi. 11 270 4.1 $27,969 3.0 1.2 1.0 0.7 0.0
05858 / Victory / VT / 62.1 mi. 7 146 4.8 $33,125 4.5 1.6 0.0 0.0 0.3
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