Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
Pine Bluff Commercial
Pine Bluff, Arkansas
Owner: Stephens Media Group (Donrey) (Nev.)
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	23.8
2004	28.6
2003	25.0
2002	36.8
2001	35.3
2000	11.8
1999	23.1
1998	28.6
1997	16.7
1996	19.2
1995	19.0
1994	31.8
1993	25.0
1992	31.8
1991	23.5
1990	11.1
The latest year at peak is	2002
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Newsroom Diversity Index
for Pine Bluff Commercial
Year	Non-white % of newsroom staff	Non-white % of circulation area	Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005	23.8	44.8	53
2004	28.6	46.5	61
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, Stephens Media Group (Donrey) (Nev.),
has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 37.
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Peer group comparison
for Pine Bluff Commercial
This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 53.				This paper
				Peer group
Compare that with 33, which is the median Diversity Index for all newspapers
reporting in this circulation category of 10,001 to 25,000 daily sales.
In that group, this newspaper's Diversity Index ranks 81 out of 259
newspapers reporting in the category of 10,001 to 25,000 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 Muskogee Daily Phoenix and Times-Democrat, Oklahoma, with a 43.5 percent non-white staff in a community that is 36.9 percent non-white. Its index is 118.
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of
approximately 18,548 ranks 514 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 Pine Bluff Commercial
	Circulation area
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	1.3	1,738
Black	43.7	57,981
Asian and Pacific Islander	0.5	698
Native-American	0.3	325
Other non-white	0.0	57
Multi-racial	0.7	894
Non-white	46.5	61,693
White	53.5	70,931
Total		132,624
	Home county:  Jefferson
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	1.0	810
Black	49.4	41,623
Asian and Pacific Islander	0.7	566
Native-American	0.2	192
Other non-white	0.1	41
Multi-racial	0.7	571
Non-white	52.0	43,803
White	48.0	40,475
Total		84,278
The home county of this newspaper is Jefferson.
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
Pine Bluff Commercial
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
71603 / Pine Bluff / AR / 5.1 mi.	6,616	13,822	47.9	$35,536	49.9	0.7	47.2	0.3	1.0
71601 / Pine Bluff / AR / 0.6 mi.	3,732	7,215	51.7	$22,349	84.5	0.9	82.6	0.1	0.3
71602 / White Hall / AR / 11 mi.	2,781	6,874	40.5	$34,381	25.9	1.0	23.2	0.3	0.6
71655 / UA Monticello / AR / 37.6 mi.	768	6,013	12.8	$29,189	29.2	1.6	25.9	0.2	0.5
71667 / Tarry / AR / 17.5 mi.	745	2,995	24.9	$31,009	19.5	1.5	16.7	0.5	0.1
71665 / Toledo / AR / 20.9 mi.	692	2,223	31.1	$34,089	14.6	1.8	11.7	0.3	0.2
71671 / Warren / AR / 38.6 mi.	560	3,638	15.4	$25,598	35.7	4.4	30.5	0.1	0.1
71639 / Reedville / AR / 31.3 mi.	500	2,810	17.8	$26,147	56.6	4.3	51.3	0.1	0.3
72150 / South Sheridan / AR / 25.5 mi.	337	4,144	8.1	$39,021	2.4	0.7	0.6	0.4	0.2
71654 / Trippe / AR / 48.4 mi.	274	2,088	13.1	$22,686	42.8	1.5	39.8	0.6	0.3
71742 / Fordyce / AR / 35.8 mi.	273	2,484	11.0	$27,842	43.3	1.1	41.1	0.2	0.3
72004 / Altheimer / AR / 9.2 mi.	167	576	29.0	$20,652	77.1	2.1	73.8	0.1	0.2
71638 / Halley Junction / AR / 51 mi.	154	1,684	9.1	$21,494	62.6	1.1	60.3	0.3	0.3
72132 / Redfield / AR / 20.9 mi.	151	1,115	13.5	$39,926	9.4	2.5	4.8	0.4	0.8
71643 / Meroney / AR / 24.6 mi.	138	647	21.3	$23,018	70.6	1.7	67.1	0.5	0.1
72152 / Sherrill / AR / 10.1 mi.	114	264	43.2	$26,797	46.5	0.0	46.2	0.2	0.0
71644 / Shannon / AR / 19.6 mi.	107	446	24.0	$25,852	58.7	2.1	56.0	0.2	0.1
72160 / Stuttgart / AR / 28.3 mi.	101	4,653	2.2	$32,150	33.3	0.8	31.2	0.2	0.6
71652 / Saline / AR / 28.5 mi.	68	495	13.7	$31,923	21.6	1.3	19.1	0.6	0.2
72057 / Grapevine / AR / 20.3 mi.	60	379	15.8	$27,500	7.5	0.3	5.1	0.7	0.1
72175 / Wabbaseka / AR / 13.1 mi.	52	197	26.4	$12,375	79.2	2.2	76.4	0.0	0.0
71675 / Wilmar / AR / 36.9 mi.	45	790	5.7	$26,774	36.1	2.5	32.8	0.2	0.3
72073 / Humphrey / AR / 18.8 mi.	35	562	6.2	$26,829	27.9	0.9	24.8	0.3	0.0
72168 / Tucker / AR / 15.6 mi.	28	143	19.6	$25,694	61.9	1.2	59.8	0.2	0.2
File	ar_pine_bluff_commercial
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