Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists | ||||||||||
at America's daily newspapers | ||||||||||
with the communities that they serve | ||||||||||
Newsroom diversity report for | ||||||||||
The Bellingham Herald | ||||||||||
Bellingham, Washington | ||||||||||
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 | 18.2 | |||||||||
2004 | 13.2 | |||||||||
2003 | 23.5 | |||||||||
2002 | 22.9 | |||||||||
2001 | 22.2 | |||||||||
2000 | 13.5 | |||||||||
1999 | Did not report | |||||||||
1998 | Did not report | |||||||||
1997 | Did not report | |||||||||
1996 | 10.7 | |||||||||
1995 | 0.0 | |||||||||
1994 | 3.4 | |||||||||
1993 | 7.1 | |||||||||
1992 | 13.3 | |||||||||
1991 | 7.7 | |||||||||
1990 | 12.0 | |||||||||
The latest year at peak is | 2003 | |||||||||
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures. | ||||||||||
Newsroom Diversity Index | ||||||||||
for The Bellingham Herald | ||||||||||
Year | Non-white % of newsroom staff | Non-white % of circulation area | Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100) | |||||||
2005 | 18.2 | 13.9 | 131 | |||||||
2004 | 13.2 | 13.9 | 95 | |||||||
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 Bellingham Herald | ||||||||||
This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 131. | 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 33 out of 259 | ||||||||||
newspapers reporting in the category of 10,001 to 25,000 daily sales. | ||||||||||
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of | ||||||||||
approximately 23,938 ranks 409 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 Bellingham Herald | ||||||||||
Circulation area | ||||||||||
Race/ethnicity | % of population | Number of residents |
|
|||||||
Hispanic | 5.3 | 8,586 | ||||||||
Black | 0.6 | 1,050 | ||||||||
Asian and Pacific Islander | 2.9 | 4,779 | ||||||||
Native-American | 2.7 | 4,369 | ||||||||
Other non-white | 0.2 | 342 | ||||||||
Multi-racial | 2.2 | 3,601 | ||||||||
Non-white | 13.9 | 22,727 | ||||||||
White | 86.1 | 140,745 | ||||||||
Total | 163,472 | |||||||||
Home county: Whatcom | ||||||||||
Race/ethnicity | % of population | Number of residents |
|
|||||||
Hispanic | 5.2 | 8,687 | ||||||||
Black | 0.6 | 1,065 | ||||||||
Asian and Pacific Islander | 2.9 | 4,821 | ||||||||
Native-American | 2.6 | 4,396 | ||||||||
Other non-white | 0.2 | 349 | ||||||||
Multi-racial | 2.2 | 3,654 | ||||||||
Non-white | 13.8 | 22,972 | ||||||||
White | 86.2 | 143,842 | ||||||||
Total | 166,814 | |||||||||
The home county of this newspaper is Whatcom. | ||||||||||
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 Bellingham Herald | ||||||||||
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 |
|
98225 / Marietta / WA / 5.1 mi. | 6,496 | 17,809 | 36.5 | $29,056 | 13.5 | 4.4 | 0.8 | 1.6 | 3.9 | |
98226 / Silver Beach / WA / 2.8 mi. | 5,472 | 22,045 | 24.8 | $44,100 | 15.0 | 4.1 | 0.7 | 4.2 | 3.5 | |
98248 / Pleasant Valley / WA / 9.3 mi. | 2,938 | 6,475 | 45.4 | $45,050 | 15.8 | 7.4 | 0.6 | 3.6 | 1.8 | |
98264 / Lynden / WA / 9.2 mi. | 2,239 | 5,879 | 38.1 | $44,531 | 11.3 | 7.2 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 2.0 | |
98230 / Blaine Air Force / WA / 17.5 mi. | 1,186 | 4,364 | 27.2 | $40,827 | 11.1 | 4.2 | 1.0 | 0.9 | 2.7 | |
98247 / Van Buren / WA / 7.6 mi. | 693 | 2,703 | 25.6 | $42,191 | 16.6 | 10.3 | 0.3 | 3.3 | 1.0 | |
98244 / Welcome / WA / 11.3 mi. | 477 | 872 | 54.7 | $50,833 | 13.1 | 2.5 | 0.5 | 5.2 | 0.8 | |
98295 / Sumas / WA / 13.8 mi. | 284 | 1,606 | 17.7 | $35,414 | 11.6 | 6.0 | 0.2 | 1.9 | 1.2 | |
98240 / Custer / WA / 13 mi. | 268 | 963 | 27.8 | $46,583 | 11.4 | 6.9 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 1.4 | |
98262 / Snug Harbor / WA / 12.8 mi. | 157 | 381 | 41.2 | $42,279 | 4.7 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 0.5 | |
98284 / Sedro Woolley / WA / 20.2 mi. | 116 | 8,393 | 1.4 | $40,851 | 10.3 | 5.4 | 0.4 | 2.0 | 0.8 | |
98273 / Mount Vernon / WA / 25.7 mi. | 61 | 9,053 | 0.7 | $40,304 | 29.2 | 23.3 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 2.4 | |
File | wa_the_bellingham_herald | |||||||||
Time | 5/14/05 2:24 PM | |||||||||
Page | 409 | |||||||||
Member | 148600 |