Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
Banner-News, Magnolia
Magnolia, Arkansas
Owner: Wehco Media (Ark.)
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	16.7
2004	37.5
2003	16.7
2002	16.7
2001	33.3
2000	16.7
1999	16.7
1998	Did not report
1997	25.0
1996	Did not report
1995	20.0
1994	Did not report
1993	Did not report
1992	Did not report
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 Banner-News, Magnolia
Year	Non-white % of newsroom staff	Non-white % of circulation area	Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005	16.7	38.4	44
2004	37.5	38.4	98
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, Wehco Media (Ark.),
has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 42.
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Peer group comparison
for Banner-News, Magnolia
This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 44.				This paper
				Peer group
Compare that with 0, which is the median Diversity Index for all newspapers
reporting in this circulation category of 5,000 and fewer daily sales.
In that group, this newspaper's Diversity Index ranks 28 out of 132
newspapers reporting in the category of 5,000 and fewer 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 Chronicle-News, Trinidad, Colorado, with a 60 percent non-white staff in a community that is 44.9 percent non-white. Its index is 134.
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of
approximately 4,040 ranks 1242 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 Banner-News, Magnolia
	Circulation area
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	1.1	269
Black	36.0	9,205
Asian and Pacific Islander	0.4	93
Native-American	0.2	62
Other non-white	0.1	21
Multi-racial	0.7	177
Non-white	38.4	9,827
White	61.6	15,776
Total		25,603
	Home county:  Columbia
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	1.1	269
Black	36.0	9,205
Asian and Pacific Islander	0.4	93
Native-American	0.2	62
Other non-white	0.1	21
Multi-racial	0.7	177
Non-white	38.4	9,827
White	61.6	15,776
Total		25,603
For this newspaper the home county was used as the circulation area. That county is Columbia.
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: Newspaper's home county.
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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