Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
The Christian Science Monitor, Boston
Boston, Massachusetts
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 5.1
2004 4.5
2003 3.5
2002 5.1
2001 7.4
2000 Did not report
1999 Did not report
1998 Did not report
1997 Did not report
1996 Did not report
1995 4.8
1994 4.5
1993 5.3
1992 8.3
1991 Did not report
1990 3.6
The latest year at peak is 1992
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Newsroom Diversity Index
for The Christian Science Monitor, Boston
Year Non-white % of newsroom staff Non-white % of circulation area Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005 5.1 30.9 17
2004 4.5 30.9 15
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.)
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Peer group comparison
for The Christian Science Monitor, Boston
This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 17. This paper
Peer group
Compare that with 50, which is the median Diversity Index for all newspapers
reporting in this circulation category of 50,001 to 100,000 daily sales.
In that group, this newspaper's Diversity Index ranks 86 out of 90
newspapers reporting in the category of 50,001 to 100,000 daily sales.
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of
approximately 60,723 ranks 174 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 Christian Science Monitor, Boston
Circulation area
Race/ethnicity % of population Number of residents
Hispanic 12.5 35,305,818
Black 12.1 33,947,837
Asian and Pacific Islander 3.7 10,476,678
Native-American 0.7 2,068,883
Other non-white 0.2 467,770
Multi-racial 1.6 4,602,146
  Non-white 30.9 86,869,132
White 69.1 194,552,774
Total 281,421,906
Home county:  Suffolk
Race/ethnicity % of population Number of residents
Hispanic 15.5 107,031
Black 20.9 143,817
Asian and Pacific Islander 7.0 48,284
Native-American 0.3 1,710
Other non-white 1.3 8,780
Multi-racial 3.0 20,650
  Non-white 47.9 330,272
White 52.1 359,535
Total 689,807
The home county of this newspaper is Suffolk.
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: US population for a national newspaper. 
  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.
      
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