Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
The Seattle Times
Seattle, Washington
Owner: Seattle Times
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	20.9
2004	22.2
2003	20.3
2002	20.4
2001	21.2
2000	20.6
1999	20.1
1998	23.6
1997	20.1
1996	23.0
1995	19.2
1994	20.4
1993	21.6
1992	21.1
1991	21.0
1990	Did not report
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 Seattle Times
Year	Non-white % of newsroom staff	Non-white % of circulation area	Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005	20.9	24.7	85
2004	22.2	25.2	88
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, Seattle Times,
has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 99.
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Peer group comparison
for The Seattle Times
This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 85.				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 15 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 The Detroit News, Michigan, with a 26.2 percent non-white staff in a community that is 21.6 percent non-white. Its index is 121.
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of
approximately 231,051 ranks 42 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 Seattle Times
	Circulation area
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	5.4	113,648
Black	4.7	98,857
Asian and Pacific Islander	10.7	225,386
Native-American	0.8	17,783
Other non-white	0.3	5,334
Multi-racial	3.4	72,342
Non-white	25.2	533,350
White	74.8	1,583,629
Total		2,116,979
	Home county:  King
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	5.5	95,242
Black	5.3	91,798
Asian and Pacific Islander	11.3	195,352
Native-American	0.8	14,278
Other non-white	0.3	4,577
Multi-racial	3.5	60,660
Non-white	26.6	461,907
White	73.4	1,275,127
Total		1,737,034
The home county of this newspaper is King.
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 Seattle 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
98115 / Wedgwood / WA / 5.1 mi.	6,162	19,527	31.6	$58,475	17.3	3.0	1.8	0.5	8.6
98052 / Redmond / WA / 10.3 mi.	5,201	20,672	25.2	$68,923	22.7	5.5	1.4	0.4	12.5
98109 / Seattle / WA / 1.2 mi.	4,850	9,383	51.7	$49,531	15.5	3.6	2.9	0.7	5.6
98133 / Shoreline / WA / 8.4 mi.	4,813	19,103	25.2	$41,743	29.6	5.2	4.1	1.1	14.8
98006 / Newport Hills / WA / 8.5 mi.	4,449	13,046	34.1	$81,929	26.6	2.7	1.6	0.3	19.2
98103 / Wallingford / WA / 3.9 mi.	4,360	21,166	20.6	$49,044	16.6	4.0	2.3	0.8	6.1
98101 / Times Square / WA / 0.1 mi.	4,038	5,924	68.2	$26,995	29.7	5.1	10.3	1.9	8.6
98004 / Yarrow Point / WA / 5.6 mi.	3,905	10,497	37.2	$63,358	16.3	3.1	1.2	0.2	9.6
98033 / Totem Lake / WA / 8 mi.	3,892	13,661	28.5	$69,073	14.1	3.2	1.1	0.5	6.8
98155 / Shoreline / WA / 9.5 mi.	3,811	13,089	29.1	$55,863	23.0	3.5	2.7	0.7	12.0
98034 / Totem Lake / WA / 9.2 mi.	3,809	16,343	23.3	$60,043	20.7	5.3	1.8	0.5	9.7
98105 / University / WA / 3.8 mi.	3,741	14,742	25.4	$40,246	24.2	3.7	2.0	0.5	14.0
98125 / Seattle / WA / 7 mi.	3,664	15,967	22.9	$42,400	31.8	5.8	4.9	0.8	15.3
98117 / Seattle / WA / 5.3 mi.	3,653	13,194	27.7	$55,777	13.9	3.6	1.3	1.1	4.9
98040 / Mercer Island / WA / 5.7 mi.	3,491	8,437	41.4	$91,904	17.2	1.9	1.1	0.2	11.9
98012 / Mill Creek / WA / 15.9 mi.	3,475	14,238	24.4	$65,730	16.8	3.9	1.2	0.6	8.5
98026 / Edmonds / WA / 14.8 mi.	3,391	13,519	25.1	$56,774	17.1	3.7	1.5	0.8	7.8
98118 / Seattle / WA / 5.3 mi.	3,172	13,916	22.8	$44,697	75.2	7.2	25.6	0.9	35.5
98037 / Lynnwood / WA / 15.6 mi.	3,057	17,125	17.9	$48,602	25.3	5.2	2.5	0.8	12.8
98036 / Seattle Heights / WA / 13.3 mi.	3,044	12,567	24.2	$51,296	24.9	6.4	2.5	0.9	11.5
98104 / Seattle / WA / 0.6 mi.	3,033	5,566	54.5	$16,205	53.8	7.2	19.7	2.4	20.5
98058 / Renton / WA / 13.7 mi.	2,932	13,519	21.7	$63,680	25.1	3.6	4.9	0.6	12.2
98116 / West Seattle / WA / 3.5 mi.	2,899	10,571	27.4	$54,563	13.2	3.4	1.7	0.9	3.9
98011 / Queensgate / WA / 11.1 mi.	2,870	10,456	27.4	$61,329	15.5	4.7	1.3	0.6	6.0
98177 / The Highlands / WA / 8.8 mi.	2,860	7,499	38.1	$65,514