Morning News, Florence... 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

Morning News, Florence

Florence, South Carolina

Owner: Media General (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

Did not report

2004

14.8

2003

21.1

2002

8.3

2001

17.9

2000

8.7

1999

4.3

1998

12.0

1997

35.7

1996

3.6

1995

10.3

1994

6.5

1993

5.4

1992

8.3

1991

Did not report

1990

0.0

The latest year at peak is

1997

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

Newsroom Diversity Index

for Morning News, Florence

Year

Non-white % of newsroom staff

Non-white % of circulation area

Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)

2005

N/A

46.8

N/A

2004

14.8

46.8

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, Media General (Va.),

has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 39.

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

Peer group comparison

for Morning News, Florence

This paper

Peer group

The median Diversity Index is 44 for all newspapers

reporting in this circulation 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 Visalia Times-Delta and Tulare Advance-Register, California, with a 41.4 percent non-white staff in a community that is 51.6 percent non-white. Its index is 80.

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

approximately 32,664 ranks 313 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 Morning News, Florence

Circulation area

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

1.2

3,449

Black

44.2

127,707

Asian and Pacific Islander

0.5

1,316

Native-American

0.3

957

Other non-white

0.0

122

Multi-racial

0.5

1,518

Non-white

46.8

135,069

White

53.2

153,687

Total

288,756

Home county: Florence

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

1.1

1,383

Black

39.1

49,224

Asian and Pacific Islander

0.7

890

Native-American

0.2

263

Other non-white

0.0

Multi-racial

0.6

744

Non-white

41.8

52,545

White

58.2

73,216

Total

125,761

The home county of this newspaper is Florence.

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

Morning News, Florence

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

29501 / Florence / SC / 0 mi.

7,535

15,625

48.2

$39,809

30.0

1.0

26.9

0.2

1.2

29505 / Florence / SC / 3.9 mi.

3,731

7,143

52.2

$44,030

27.4

0.8

24.3

0.1

1.5

29532 / Darlington / SC / 8.8 mi.

2,947

8,045

36.6

$29,913

51.3

1.0

49.6

0.2

29550 / Hartsville / SC / 19.9 mi.

2,263

12,211

18.5

$32,747

33.0

1.2

30.8

0.2

0.3

29506 / Quinby / SC / 3.9 mi.

2,131

7,431

28.7

$26,468

66.3

1.3

63.8

0.2

0.3

29560 / Lake City / SC / 20.2 mi.

1,805

4,982

36.2

$25,861

61.1

1.4

58.8

0.2

0.3

29571 / Marion / SC / 20.7 mi.

1,547

6,248

24.8

$27,714

59.2

1.0

57.2

0.2

0.3

29161 / Timmonsville / SC / 8.8 mi.

1,350

4,060

33.3

$31,868

46.2

1.1

44.3

0.2

29536 / Dillon / SC / 26.9 mi.

1,065

6,208

17.2

$26,136

52.5

2.0

47.4

2.1

0.5

29069 / Oats / SC / 14.6 mi.

845

1,948

43.4

$27,426

49.5

0.5

48.1

0.3

0.1

29541 / Effingham / SC / 4.3 mi.

818

2,835

28.9

$36,924

42.2

0.7

40.5

0.4

0.2

29554 / Stuckey / SC / 33.2 mi.

749

3,848

19.5

$28,750

53.2

1.0

51.6

0.3

0.1

29574 / Mullins / SC / 28.2 mi.

689

5,012

13.7

$25,673

55.8

1.4

53.2

0.4

0.3

29555 / Poston / SC / 29.4 mi.

676

2,299

29.4

$29,870

36.5

0.9

34.5

0.4

0.1

29583 / Pamplico / SC / 16.7 mi.

621

1,927

32.2

$32,642

41.7

1.7

38.9

0.2

0.1

29556 / Kingstree / SC / 32.6 mi.

534

5,189

10.3

$22,791

71.6

0.5

70.0

0.1

0.4

29540 / Darlington / SC / 9 mi.

482

1,744

27.6

$27,705

62.8

0.7

61.5

0.1

0.0

29591 / Scranton / SC / 17.3 mi.

414

1,922

21.5

$32,420

29.3

1.8

26.6

0.3

0.1

29565 / Latta / SC / 21.1 mi.

360

2,528

14.2

$26,797

48.1

1.2

45.1

0.9

0.2

29114 / Olanta / SC / 17.6 mi.

284

810

35.1

$25,993

51.8

0.8

50.8

0.1

0.0

29563 / Lake View / SC / 34.5 mi.

275

1,065

25.8

$25,375

43.9

1.3

41.1

0.7

0.2

29530 / Coward / SC / 11.8 mi.

243

1,031

23.6

$25,722

20.5

1.7

17.9

0.0

0.2

29512 / Bennettsville / SC / 28.3 mi.

235

6,771

3.5

$25,442

61.3

0.6

58.1

1.5

0.3

29546 / Gresham / SC / 33 mi.

161

1,058

15.2

$28,075

65.4

9.0

55.7

0.1

0.2

29593 / Society Hill / SC / 17.1 mi.

149

928

16.1

$28,319

55.9

0.5

54.5

0.2

0.0

29162 / Turbeville / SC / 22.8 mi.

134

976

13.7

$29,257

32.4

2.7

29.3

0.0

0.2

29518 / Hebron / SC / 24.6 mi.

120

520

23.1

$29,479

42.7

0.4

41.4

0.3

0.1

29580 / Nesmith / SC / 39.3 mi.

587

16.9

$27,024

88.4

0.5

87.3

0.1

0.5

29581 / Nichols / SC / 33.9 mi.

1,802

4.8

$29,161

36.3

1.9

33.5

0.2

0.0

29520 / Cheraw / SC / 33.4 mi.

5,456

1.5

$30,266

46.0

0.7

43.7

0.4

0.6

29080 / South Lynchburg / SC / 19.7 mi.

1,428

5.5

$26,574

80.1

2.9

76.5

0.0

29543 / Fork / SC / 29.6 mi.

220

26.4

$32,381

31.8

0.3

30.3

1.1

0.0

29547 / South of the Border / SC / 29.2 mi.

844

6.5

$30,417

57.9

3.0

49.1

4.3

0.2

29592 / Sellers / SC / 18 mi.

373

13.7

$22,379

58.5

0.7

56.1

1.5

0.1

29111 / Workman / SC / 28.7 mi.

548

6.8

$38,292

59.5

1.0

57.3

0.3

0.2

29589 / Rains / SC / 28 mi.

62.2

$21,429

51.5

3.0

48.5

0.0

29102 / Wilson / SC / 39.1 mi.

5,975

0.3

$27,146

55.2

2.0

52.2

0.2

0.3

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