Times Record, Fort Smith... Racial diversity of its news staff and community

Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists

at America's daily newspapers

with the communities that they serve

Newsroom diversity report for

Times Record, Fort Smith

Fort Smith, Arkansas

Owner: Stephens Media Group (Donrey) (Nev.)

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

5.4

2004

10.2

2003

1.4

2002

3.0

2001

0.0

2000

0.0

1999

8.8

1998

6.1

1997

Did not report

1996

0.0

1995

0.0

1994

0.0

1993

0.0

1992

3.8

1991

Did not report

1990

Did not report

The latest year at peak is

2004

See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.

Newsroom Diversity Index

for Times Record, Fort Smith

Year

Non-white % of newsroom staff

Non-white % of circulation area

Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)

2005

5.4

16.5

2004

10.2

16.8

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, Stephens Media Group (Donrey) (Nev.),

has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 37.

See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.

Peer group comparison

for Times Record, Fort Smith

This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 33.

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 97 out of 140

newspapers reporting in the category of 25,001 to 50,000 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 Jackson Sun, Tennessee, with a 37.5 percent non-white staff in a community that is 24.7 percent non-white. Its index is 152.

FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of

approximately 37,462 ranks 276 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 Times Record, Fort Smith

Circulation area

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

4.6

13,080

Black

3.2

9,187

Asian and Pacific Islander

1.8

5,035

Native-American

4.2

12,181

Other non-white

0.0

128

Multi-racial

3.1

8,836

Non-white

16.8

48,447

White

83.2

239,212

Total

287,659

Home county: Sebastian

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

6.7

7,710

Black

6.1

7,011

Asian and Pacific Islander

3.5

4,049

Native-American

1.5

1,693

Other non-white

0.1

Multi-racial

2.2

2,536

Non-white

20.0

23,061

White

80.0

92,010

Total

115,071

The home county of this newspaper is Sebastian.

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

Times Record, Fort Smith

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

72903 / Fort Smith / AR / 2.5 mi.

5,485

10,042

54.6

$39,220

15.3

5.1

4.6

1.3

2.4

72901 / Fort Smith / AR / 0 mi.

4,464

9,226

48.4

$26,624

26.4

10.9

8.1

2.0

3.1

72956 / Van Buren / AR / 6.2 mi.

3,923

10,899

36.0

$33,037

12.0

4.6

1.2

1.9

72904 / Fort Smith / AR / 2.7 mi.

3,077

7,599

40.5

$25,184

47.8

15.6

17.7

1.4

9.6

72908 / Fort Smith / AR / 4.4 mi.

2,863

4,761

60.1

$44,493

10.9

1.7

2.7

1.5

3.0

72936 / Greenwood / AR / 12.6 mi.

1,625

4,420

36.8

$37,495

4.9

1.6

0.2

1.3

0.5

72921 / Alma / AR / 12.5 mi.

1,328

4,087

32.5

$33,856

6.4

2.3

1.0

1.5

0.3

72916 / Fort Smith / AR / 2.6 mi.

989

2,119

46.7

$42,694

9.2

1.6

1.3

1.0

2.6

74948 / Muldrow / OK / 10 mi.

987

4,190

23.6

$28,934

30.7

2.4

1.8

16.7

0.4

72927 / Booneville / AR / 29.8 mi.

815

3,241

25.1

$28,595

4.2

1.1

0.3

0.8

0.3

72949 / Ozark / AR / 31.2 mi.

802

3,870

20.7

$31,621

4.9

1.9

1.0

0.8

0.2

74955 / Sallisaw / OK / 20.6 mi.

739

5,315

13.9

$26,313

33.0

2.1

1.0

20.5

0.2

74953 / Poteau / OK / 22.3 mi.

636

4,084

15.6

$28,653

19.9

4.7

1.6

9.7

0.3

74959 / Spiro / OK / 13.1 mi.

619

2,695

23.0

$27,580

22.0

1.7

6.9

7.1

0.1

72933 / Charleston / AR / 20 mi.

615

1,963

31.3

$34,182

5.3

2.1

0.2

0.8

0.5

72923 / Barling / AR / 6.2 mi.

611

1,655

36.9

$37,831

14.3

3.9

1.1

1.8

5.0

72941 / Lavaca / AR / 12.9 mi.

589

1,624

36.3

$42,377

5.0

1.8

0.4

1.2

0.1

74954 / Roland / OK / 6 mi.

551

1,458

37.8

$31,030

26.2

2.5

4.0

11.1

0.1

74902 / Pocola / OK / 6.2 mi.

538

1,673

32.2

$33,108

14.3

1.9

2.9

5.0

0.3

72958 / Waldron / AR / 34.7 mi.

529

3,183

16.6

$26,289

11.0

7.5

0.3

1.4

1.0

72855 / Paris / AR / 36.4 mi.

502

2,633

19.1

$26,449

5.8

1.6

2.7

0.4

0.1

72947 / Mulberry / AR / 20.6 mi.

424

1,665

25.5

$31,163

4.1

0.8

0.1

1.8

0.2

72937 / Hackett / AR / 11.5 mi.

399

1,269

31.4

$35,801

5.6

1.1

0.3

1.3

0.6

72946 / Mountainburg / AR / 24 mi.

347

1,463

23.7

$31,711

4.7

1.0

0.1

1.9

0.2

72830 / Clarksville / AR / 49.9 mi.

336

4,792

7.0

$28,407

14.5

10.5

2.3

0.4

0.3

72940 / Huntington / AR / 20.1 mi.

268

914

29.3

$35,288

4.8

1.7

0.4

0.6

0.2

71953 / Yocana / AR / 51.3 mi.

254

5,831

4.4

$25,359

4.3

1.7

0.1

1.0

0.3

72944 / Mansfield / AR / 25.1 mi.

247

941

26.2

$30,565

7.7

2.4

0.7

1.7

1.2

74901 / Arkoma / OK / 1.6 mi.

230

891

25.8

$24,936

11.4

1.8

0.5

5.6

0.3

72952 / Rudy / AR / 8.1 mi.

222

962

23.1

$34,039

4.9

1.3

0.0

1.9

0.2

72932 / Cedarville / AR / 16.2 mi.

191

231

82.7

$33,036

9.6

1.4

0.3

3.9

0.5

74937 / Heavener / OK / 32.6 mi.

171

1,861

9.2

$25,562

31.5

14.4

0.4

11.5

0.2

72938 / Hartford / AR / 23.4 mi.

170

565

30.1

$28,603

5.3

1.5

0.0

1.4

0.4

72840 / Hunt / AR / 39.7 mi.

146

715

20.4

$28,325

4.2

2.6

0.0

1.0

0.1

74941 / Keota / OK / 26.2 mi.

120

927

12.9

$25,099

18.4

2.5

0.3

11.2

0.4

74932 / Cameron / OK / 14.6 mi.

108

693

15.6

$30,921

13.3

1.9

0.1

7.2

0.3

72951 / Ratcliff / AR / 31.2 mi.

105

405

25.9

$27,125

3.5

1.0

0.5

0.8

0.0

74966 / Wister / OK / 37.2 mi.

100

1,172

8.5

$27,420

21.5

1.7

0.1

15.2

0.3

74951 / Panama / OK / 18.8 mi.

663

14.9

$23,882

17.1

2.3

0.1

8.0

0.4

74930 / Bokoshe / OK / 25.8 mi.

646

15.2

$26,829

23.2

0.8

0.3

15.5

0.2

72863 / Scranton / AR / 45.8 mi.

595

16.1

$37,875

3.4

0.7

0.2

74462 / Tamaha / OK / 37.9 mi.

3,017

3.1

$23,724

21.2

1.6

0.0

13.7

0.3

72865 / Subiaco / AR / 40.9 mi.

391

21.2

$33,207

3.9

1.1

1.5

0.5

0.2

72821 / Wiederkehr Villa / AR / 34.5 mi.

694

10.7

$22,063

4.1

1.8

0.1

0.7

0.5

72928 / Branch / AR / 25.2 mi.

268

25.7

$27,578

3.4

1.3

0.2

1.2

0.3

74962 / Vian / OK / 30.7 mi.

1,995

3.0

$25,560

40.6

1.4

3.6

25.7

0.1

72935 / Dyer / AR / 14.5 mi.

57.3

$17,386

2.6

0.4

1.7

0.0

72945 / Midland / AR / 17 mi.

109

50.5

$20,000

4.4

1.7

0.3

0.7

0.0

74940 / Howe / OK / 32 mi.

834

6.6

$28,281

19.9

3.2

0.1

10.2

0.1

74956 / Shady Point / OK / 20.7 mi.

579

9.2

$31,172

14.9

1.8

0.0

9.3

0.1

72930 / Cecil / AR / 48.1 mi.

161

29.2

$33,964

1.7

0.5

0.0

0.2

0.0

74944 / McCurtain / OK / 35.7 mi.

376

12.5

$28,250

23.9

0.9

0.3

15.7

0.7

72832 / Coal Hill / AR / 39.2 mi.

413

10.2

$22,847

5.1

2.6

0.0

0.4

0.0

72943 / Magazine / AR / 35.4 mi.

1,030

4.0

$27,969

3.4

1.1

0.0

0.7

0.1

74936 / Gans / OK / 14.7 mi.

497

7.2

$25,345

23.8

0.5

15.3

0.0

72955 / Uniontown / AR / 14.2 mi.

180

17.8

$34,352

10.9

1.2

0.2

6.3

0.0

72934 / Chester / AR / 23.6 mi.

316

9.5

$32,045

6.8

1.2

0.1

3.5

0.1

74947 / Monroe / OK / 24.7 mi.

41.8

$22,500

15.3

0.0

0.6

9.6

0.0

72950 / Parks / AR / 46.6 mi.

166

15.7

$21,429

9.1

0.8

0.0

1.3

0.0

72851 / New Blaine / AR / 51.1 mi.

223

10.3

$25,278

1.5

0.9

0.0

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