Diversity Analysis Says Only 13% of Daily Newsrooms Reflect Populations of Their Communities

By: Mark Fitzgerald The vast majority of American daily newspaper newsrooms do not reflect the racial and ethnic makeup of the communities they serve, according to a study released this morning.

In an extensive analysis of the recent American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE) diversity study, journalists Bill Dedman and Stephen K. Doig also found that many of the biggest newspapers in the nation -- including USA Today, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times -- were doing better several years ago than they are now in employing minorities in their newsroom.

"This year only 13 percent of newspapers responding to the survey have reached ASNE's goal of parity between newsroom and community non-white percentages," says the study, which was commissioned by the Knight Foundation. That result is, however, up slightly from last year, when 11% of paper met parity, the study says.

This is the second annual analysis of ASNE numbers from Dedman and Doig, who last year created the "Newsroom Diversity Index," which compares the share of jobs held by journalists of color with the non-white share of the population in the newspaper's circulation area. A score of 100 would signify parity between the newsroom and circulation area.

Among newspaper chains, Gannett Co. is the leader in parity, with an index of 88, the study says. The results are "circulation-weighted," the study says, so that larger newspapers in groups count more towards the index average.

Gannett is followed by Knight Ridder, 76; McClatchy Co., 72; New York Times Co., 66; Advance (Newhouse), 65; Cox Enterprises, 60; Freedom Communications, 60; Pulitzer Inc., 55; Tribune Co., 54; Ogden Newspapers, 52; Scripps, 52; Community Newspaper Holdings Inc. (CNHI), 51; Liberty Group Publishing, 51; Washington Post Co., 50; Belo Corp., 49; Dow Jones & Co., 47; Copley Press, 41; Hearst Newspapers, 40; MediaNews Group, 40; Lee Enterprises, 38; Hollinger International, 36; Media General, 33; Morris Communications, 26; Journal Register, 19; and Paxton Media Group, 5.

Included in the report are the 374 daily newspapers which reported employing no journalists of color at all. (Another 481 dailies did not respond to the ASNE survey.) "Although many of these all-white newspapers are small, they have a combined weekday circulation of 3,790,285 -- well more than USA Today and The New York Times combined," the study says.

The study also notes that these "all-white newsrooms" are not necessarily in all-white communities: "The list is led by The Independent, in Gallup, N.M., where the circulation area is 93 percent non-white."

Dedman and Doig have created Web pages for each of the 1,413 daily newspapers in the U.S. that compare the diversity of the newsroom and circulation area. The report, at www.asu.edu/cronkite/asne, details the population of the circulation area and includes the paper's year-by-year ethnic and racial composition as reported to ASNE. For the 857 papers that report audited sales by ZIP Code, the site shows the racial and ethnic composition of population in each ZIP Code, the household income and sales per household.

While the ASNE census showed a slight increase in minority daily journalists to 12.95% of all newsroom employees, Dedman and Doig found that most newspapers -- including many of the nation's biggest -- are actually going backward.

"The nation's four largest newspapers have slipped," the study says. "USA Today had its highest level of journalists of color in the 1994 report (which measured employment at the end of 1993), The Wall Street Journal in the 2000 report, The New York Times in last year's report, and The Los Angeles Times in 2000."

Other papers in the top 25 circulation leaders that have slipped below their peak level of diversity are the New York Daily News (peaked in the 1995 report); Chicago Tribune (1998); Newsday (2002); San Francisco Chronicle (1998); The Arizona Republic (2003); The Miami Herald (1999); the Star Tribune in Minneapolis (2001); and The Plain Dealer in Cleveland (1995).

Ten of the nation's top 25 papers reached their peak with this year's survey: The Washington Post; Houston Chronicle; The Dallas Morning News; The Boston Globe; The Philadelphia Inquirer; The Atlanta Journal-Constitution; Detroit Free Press; The San Diego Union-Tribune The (Portland) Oregonian; and The St. Petersburg Times.