Santa Maria Times... 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

Santa Maria Times

Santa Maria, California

Owner: Pulitzer (Mo.)

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

8.3

2004

10.5

2003

5.0

2002

0.0

2001

12.0

2000

4.8

1999

4.8

1998

15.0

1997

10.5

1996

13.0

1995

4.8

1994

5.9

1993

0.0

1992

5.0

1991

Did not report

1990

Did not report

The latest year at peak is

1998

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

Newsroom Diversity Index

for Santa Maria Times

Year

Non-white % of newsroom staff

Non-white % of circulation area

Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)

2005

8.3

53.4

2004

10.5

53.4

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, Pulitzer (Mo.),

has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 59.

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

Peer group comparison

for Santa Maria Times

This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 16.

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 155 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 The Albuquerque Tribune, New Mexico, with a 28.9 percent non-white staff in a community that is 51.7 percent non-white. Its index is 56.

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

approximately 16,681 ranks 564 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 Santa Maria Times

Circulation area

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

45.2

63,327

Black

1.8

2,507

Asian and Pacific Islander

3.8

5,307

Native-American

0.6

783

Other non-white

0.1

164

Multi-racial

2.0

2,751

Non-white

53.4

74,839

White

46.6

65,286

Total

140,125

Home county: Santa Barbara

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

34.2

136,668

Black

2.1

8,385

Asian and Pacific Islander

4.1

16,302

Native-American

0.5

2,135

Other non-white

0.2

585

Multi-racial

2.1

8,189

Non-white

43.1

172,264

White

56.9

227,083

Total

399,347

The home county of this newspaper is Santa Barbara.

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

Santa Maria Times

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

93454 / Santa Maria / CA / 7.7 mi.

5,524

10,396

53.1

$39,007

49.4

40.9

2.0

0.7

3.9

93458 / Santa Maria / CA / 7.9 mi.

5,077

10,521

48.3

$32,589

83.7

75.9

1.4

0.4

4.6

93455 / Santa Maria / CA / 0 mi.

3,851

13,173

29.2

$53,251

26.9

19.0

1.4

0.6

3.6

93444 / Nipomo / CA / 13.5 mi.

1,037

5,096

20.3

$50,231

35.7

30.8

0.6

0.7

1.4

93436 / Lompoc / CA / 16.3 mi.

480

17,031

2.8

$41,952

46.3

32.5

6.5

0.8

3.8

93420 / Arroyo Grande / CA / 23.2 mi.

472

9,680

4.9

$50,244

17.3

11.4

0.5

2.7

93434 / Guadalupe / CA / 10.4 mi.

398

1,432

27.8

$30,864

91.8

84.4

0.4

0.5

4.8

93437 / Lompoc / CA / 11.4 mi.

191

1,707

11.2

$39,444

31.8

11.1

11.2

0.4

4.4

93449 / Pismo Beach / CA / 25.7 mi.

181

4,235

4.3

$46,521

12.9

6.9

0.6

0.5

2.9

93433 / Grover Beach / CA / 22.8 mi.

134

5,039

2.7

$37,930

30.9

22.5

0.8

0.9

3.8

93440 / Los Alamos / CA / 11.6 mi.

104

461

22.6

$48,182

31.7

27.0

0.2

1.5

1.4

93463 / Solvang / CA / 24 mi.

3,140

2.5

$52,149

19.8

16.7

0.3

0.4

0.8

93445 / Oceano / CA / 21.2 mi.

2,500

2.8

$38,408

51.0

44.5

0.8

0.9

1.6

93427 / Buellton / CA / 20.6 mi.

1,704

3.6

$49,677

31.2

26.9

0.3

0.7

1.1

93460 / Santa Ynez / CA / 26.4 mi.

2,085

2.1

$68,682

24.0

17.8

0.2

3.0

1.3

93401 / San Luis Obispo / CA / 29.7 mi.

11,740

0.3

$37,176

19.1

11.3

1.2

0.5

3.6

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