The Muskegon Chronicle... 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

The Muskegon Chronicle

Muskegon, Michigan

Owner: Advance (Newhouse) (N.Y.)

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

7.9

2004

7.5

2003

9.8

2002

9.8

2001

9.8

2000

9.8

1999

10.0

1998

10.0

1997

12.2

1996

14.3

1995

14.0

1994

14.0

1993

11.4

1992

11.9

1991

Did not report

1990

Did not report

The latest year at peak is

1996

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

Newsroom Diversity Index

for The Muskegon Chronicle

Year

Non-white % of newsroom staff

Non-white % of circulation area

Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)

2005

7.9

16.1

2004

7.5

16.1

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, Advance (Newhouse) (N.Y.),

has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 63.

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

Peer group comparison

for The Muskegon Chronicle

This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 49.

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 57 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 45,182 ranks 236 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 Muskegon Chronicle

Circulation area

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

4.0

10,063

Black

9.5

24,256

Asian and Pacific Islander

0.5

1,162

Native-American

0.7

1,748

Other non-white

0.1

169

Multi-racial

1.4

3,590

Non-white

16.1

40,988

White

83.9

213,398

Total

254,386

Home county: Muskegon

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

3.5

6,001

Black

14.1

23,971

Asian and Pacific Islander

0.4

727

Native-American

0.7

1,237

Other non-white

0.1

133

Multi-racial

1.6

2,752

Non-white

20.5

34,821

White

79.5

135,379

Total

170,200

The home county of this newspaper is Muskegon.

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 Muskegon Chronicle

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

49441 / Muskegon / MI / 3.9 mi.

10,209

16,961

60.2

$37,515

13.0

3.5

6.4

0.7

49442 / Muskegon / MI / 6.5 mi.

8,443

15,756

53.6

$31,000

32.1

5.5

22.7

0.9

0.4

49444 / Muskegon / MI / 4.8 mi.

5,280

7,912

66.7

$30,763

51.4

3.2

45.6

0.6

0.4

49445 / Muskegon / MI / 4.4 mi.

5,095

7,370

69.1

$49,380

6.5

1.9

2.4

0.5

49461 / Whitehall / MI / 10.8 mi.

1,899

3,274

58.0

$50,306

4.0

1.5

0.7

0.3

49456 / Spring Lake / MI / 9.3 mi.

1,889

6,889

27.4

$51,359

3.6

1.4

0.4

0.6

49457 / Twin Lake / MI / 10.2 mi.

1,760

3,466

50.8

$44,743

8.4

2.5

2.8

1.1

0.2

49417 / Grand Haven / MI / 16.4 mi.

1,721

10,727

16.0

$51,142

4.4

1.9

0.3

0.4

0.8

49437 / Montague / MI / 15.5 mi.

1,292

2,611

49.5

$41,272

5.3

2.7

0.6

0.9

0.3

49412 / Fremont / MI / 22.2 mi.

1,139

4,178

27.3

$39,405

4.8

2.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

49415 / Fruitport / MI / 9 mi.

1,126

2,060

54.7

$46,818

3.8

1.6

0.6

0.2

0.3

49451 / Ravenna / MI / 14.3 mi.

805

2,062

39.0

$42,379

4.3

2.5

0.3

0.4

0.1

49440 / Muskegon / MI / 0 mi.

718

423

169.7

$19,045

36.6

6.7

27.1

1.2

0.3

49421 / Hesperia / MI / 28.1 mi.

627

2,267

27.7

$31,514

5.2

2.6

0.2

1.0

0.3

49455 / Shelby / MI / 26.6 mi.

603

1,885

32.0

$35,364

19.2

16.6

0.2

1.1

0.2

49420 / Hart / MI / 33.2 mi.

559

2,251

24.8

$32,060

20.2

17.4

0.4

0.9

0.1

49425 / Holton / MI / 16.2 mi.

549

1,281

42.9

$38,665

4.9

1.7

0.5

0.9

0.2

49446 / New Era / MI / 22.9 mi.

283

810

34.9

$44,563

10.0

8.4

0.4

0.5

0.3

49448 / Nunica / MI / 13.3 mi.

223

1,191

18.7

$46,019

3.9

1.7

0.6

0.5

0.1

49431 / Ludington / MI / 51.5 mi.

201

6,832

2.9

$34,322

6.2

3.4

0.6

0.7

0.3

49452 / Rothbury / MI / 19.5 mi.

196

649

30.2

$37,188

12.8

10.1

0.1

0.9

0.8

49327 / Grant / MI / 22.2 mi.

145

2,626

5.5

$40,509

11.6

9.7

0.4

0.3

0.2

49337 / Newaygo / MI / 33.2 mi.

129

4,681

2.8

$38,295

5.4

3.3

0.3

0.6

0.3

49349 / White Cloud / MI / 35.2 mi.

124

3,084

4.0

$32,500

8.6

2.7

2.9

0.9

0.2

49436 / Mears / MI / 32.7 mi.

123

662

18.6

$36,360

13.9

11.6

0.4

0.7

0.2

49449 / Pentwater / MI / 39.5 mi.

117

1,203

9.7

$41,189

5.7

3.4

0.1

0.6

0.4

49459 / Walkerville / MI / 37.7 mi.

515

16.1

$29,018

21.0

18.2

0.8

0.9

0.1

49404 / Coopersville / MI / 19 mi.

2,717

2.3

$50,410

4.0

2.4

0.2

0.4

49454 / Scottville / MI / 49.4 mi.

1,733

3.6

$35,858

5.8

3.0

0.4

0.7

0.3

49503 / Grand Rapids / MI / 35.4 mi.

13,859

0.3

$30,176

42.0

15.3

21.6

0.8

1.3

49309 / Bitely / MI / 40.1 mi.

766

4.8

$25,711

13.6

3.3

7.4

0.8

0.3

49303 / Bailey / MI / 20.4 mi.

344

9.9

$37,778

8.1

6.5

0.0

0.4

0.0

49318 / Casnovia / MI / 21.2 mi.

503

5.4

$51,985

6.2

5.3

0.0

0.1

49460 / West Olive / MI / 21.4 mi.

2,436

1.1

$54,503

12.6

9.0

1.1

0.6

0.9

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