Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists | ||||||||||
at America's daily newspapers | ||||||||||
with the communities that they serve | ||||||||||
Newsroom diversity report for | ||||||||||
Skagit Valley Herald, Mount Vernon | ||||||||||
Mount Vernon, Washington | ||||||||||
Owner: Pioneer Newspapers (Wash.) | ||||||||||
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 | 0.0 | |||||||||
2004 | 0.0 | |||||||||
2003 | 4.2 | |||||||||
2002 | 5.0 | |||||||||
2001 | 3.6 | |||||||||
2000 | 4.0 | |||||||||
1999 | 5.0 | |||||||||
1998 | 8.7 | |||||||||
1997 | 9.1 | |||||||||
1996 | 4.0 | |||||||||
1995 | 0.0 | |||||||||
1994 | 0.0 | |||||||||
1993 | 5.9 | |||||||||
1992 | 5.0 | |||||||||
1991 | 5.3 | |||||||||
1990 | 5.3 | |||||||||
The latest year at peak is | 1997 | |||||||||
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures. | ||||||||||
Newsroom Diversity Index | ||||||||||
for Skagit Valley Herald, Mount Vernon | ||||||||||
Year | Non-white % of newsroom staff | Non-white % of circulation area | Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100) | |||||||
2005 | 0.0 | 16.8 | 0 | |||||||
2004 | 0.0 | 16.8 | 0 | |||||||
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, Pioneer Newspapers (Wash.), | ||||||||||
has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 26. | ||||||||||
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures. | ||||||||||
Peer group comparison | ||||||||||
for Skagit Valley Herald, Mount Vernon | ||||||||||
This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 0. | This paper | |||||||||
Peer group | ||||||||||
Compare that with 33, which is the median Diversity Index for all newspapers | ||||||||||
reporting in this circulation category of 10,001 to 25,000 daily sales. | ||||||||||
In that group, this newspaper's Diversity Index ranks 159 out of 259 | ||||||||||
newspapers reporting in the 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 Enterprise Ledger, Alabama, with a 16.7 percent non-white staff in a community that is 24.4 percent non-white. Its index is 68. | ||||||||||
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of | ||||||||||
approximately 17,384 ranks 544 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 Skagit Valley Herald, Mount Vernon | ||||||||||
Circulation area | ||||||||||
Race/ethnicity | % of population | Number of residents |
|
|||||||
Hispanic | 11.1 | 11,570 | ||||||||
Black | 0.4 | 428 | ||||||||
Asian and Pacific Islander | 1.6 | 1,674 | ||||||||
Native-American | 1.7 | 1,756 | ||||||||
Other non-white | 0.2 | 159 | ||||||||
Multi-racial | 1.9 | 1,932 | ||||||||
Non-white | 16.8 | 17,519 | ||||||||
White | 83.2 | 86,532 | ||||||||
Total | 104,051 | |||||||||
Home county: Skagit | ||||||||||
Race/ethnicity | % of population | Number of residents |
|
|||||||
Hispanic | 11.2 | 11,536 | ||||||||
Black | 0.4 | 422 | ||||||||
Asian and Pacific Islander | 1.6 | 1,659 | ||||||||
Native-American | 1.7 | 1,783 | ||||||||
Other non-white | 0.2 | 158 | ||||||||
Multi-racial | 1.9 | 1,925 | ||||||||
Non-white | 17.0 | 17,483 | ||||||||
White | 83.0 | 85,496 | ||||||||
Total | 102,979 | |||||||||
The home county of this newspaper is Skagit. | ||||||||||
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 | ||||||||||
Skagit Valley Herald, Mount Vernon | ||||||||||
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 |
|
98273 / Mount Vernon / WA / 0 mi. | 4,498 | 9,053 | 49.7 | $40,304 | 29.2 | 23.3 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 2.4 | |
98284 / Sedro Woolley / WA / 57.7 mi. | 3,598 | 8,393 | 42.9 | $40,851 | 10.3 | 5.4 | 0.4 | 2.0 | 0.8 | |
98221 / Anacortes / WA / 8.7 mi. | 2,585 | 7,885 | 32.8 | $42,996 | 8.0 | 2.7 | 0.3 | 1.1 | 1.6 | |
98233 / Burlington / WA / 6.2 mi. | 2,521 | 4,596 | 54.9 | $44,454 | 21.4 | 16.4 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 1.9 | |
98274 / Mount Vernon / WA / 11.9 mi. | 2,424 | 4,944 | 49.0 | $47,136 | 15.9 | 10.9 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 1.8 | |
98257 / La Conner / WA / 4.3 mi. | 750 | 1,560 | 48.1 | $45,870 | 23.2 | 3.7 | 0.3 | 16.8 | 0.6 | |
98232 / Bow / WA / 9.6 mi. | 725 | 1,338 | 54.2 | $55,019 | 10.2 | 6.3 | 0.1 | 0.7 | 2.0 | |
98277 / Oak Harbor / WA / 12 mi. | 562 | 13,245 | 4.2 | $41,891 | 22.5 | 5.7 | 4.0 | 1.1 | 7.7 | |
98237 / Concrete / WA / 76.4 mi. | 437 | 1,109 | 39.4 | $34,038 | 6.5 | 2.2 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 0.7 | |
98292 / Stanwood / WA / 16.2 mi. | 358 | 11,858 | 3.0 | $54,889 | 6.6 | 2.6 | 0.3 | 0.9 | 0.9 | |
98235 / Clearlake / WA / 9.3 mi. | 51 | 40 | 127.5 | $16,250 | 12.6 | 4.2 | 0.0 | 7.4 | 0.0 | |
98283 / Rockport / WA / 41.2 mi. | 49 | 152 | 32.2 | $41,250 | 6.4 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 1.1 | 1.3 | |
98267 / Marblemount / WA / 56.6 mi. | 46 | 239 | 19.2 | $27,188 | 7.7 | 1.2 | 0.3 | 3.1 | 0.0 | |
98226 / Bellingham / WA / 26.8 mi. | 39 | 22,045 | 0.2 | $44,100 | 15.0 | 4.1 | 0.7 | 4.2 | 3.5 | |
98223 / Arlington / WA / 27.2 mi. | 33 | 12,053 | 0.3 | $51,736 | 9.3 | 3.7 | 0.6 | 1.1 | 1.6 | |
File | wa_skagit_valley_herald__mount_vernon | |||||||||
Time | 5/19/05 7:41 PM | |||||||||
Page | 543 | |||||||||
Member | 148830 |