Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
The Tribune, San Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo, California
Owner: Knight Ridder (Calif.)
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	13.3
2004	13.3
2003	7.3
2002	4.9
2001	7.5
2000	Did not report
1999	3.2
1998	Did not report
1997	3.1
1996	0.0
1995	0.0
1994	3.7
1993	0.0
1992	0.0
1991	3.3
1990	2.9
The latest year at peak is	2005
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Newsroom Diversity Index
for The Tribune, San Luis Obispo
Year	Non-white % of newsroom staff	Non-white % of circulation area	Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005	13.3	23.6	56
2004	13.3	23.6	56
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, Knight Ridder (Calif.),
has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 76.
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Peer group comparison
for The Tribune, San Luis Obispo
This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 56.				This paper
				Peer group
Compare that with 44, which is the median Diversity Index for all newspapers
reporting in this circulation category of 25,001 to 50,000 daily sales.
In that group, this newspaper's Diversity Index ranks 44 out of 140
newspapers reporting in the category of 25,001 to 50,000 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 Jackson Sun, Tennessee, with a 37.5 percent non-white staff in a community that is 24.7 percent non-white. Its index is 152.
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of
approximately 39,427 ranks 267 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 Tribune, San Luis Obispo
	Circulation area
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	16.1	39,806
Black	1.8	4,551
Asian and Pacific Islander	2.7	6,534
Native-American	0.6	1,505
Other non-white	0.2	363
Multi-racial	2.2	5,479
Non-white	23.6	58,238
White	76.4	188,599
Total		246,837
	Home county:  San Luis Obispo
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	16.3	40,196
Black	1.9	4,743
Asian and Pacific Islander	2.7	6,569
Native-American	0.6	1,490
Other non-white	0.2	365
Multi-racial	2.2	5,478
Non-white	23.9	58,841
White	76.2	187,840
Total		246,681
The home county of this newspaper is San Luis Obispo.
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
The Tribune, San Luis Obispo
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
93401 / San Luis Obispo / CA / 1 mi.	5,754	11,740	49.0	$37,176	19.1	11.3	1.2	0.5	3.6
93446 / Paso Robles / CA / 25.2 mi.	5,636	13,061	43.2	$42,309	27.4	21.1	1.9	0.8	1.3
93420 / Pismo Beach / CA / 9.2 mi.	4,956	9,680	51.2	$50,244	17.3	11.4	0.5	0.5	2.7
93422 / Atascadero / CA / 15 mi.	4,105	10,626	38.6	$49,754	16.6	10.3	2.1	0.6	1.2
93405 / San Luis Obispo / CA / 3.2 mi.	3,022	8,675	34.8	$30,016	32.2	16.8	7.1	0.4	5.8
93402 / San Luis Obispo / CA / 10.7 mi.	2,655	6,082	43.7	$46,806	17.3	9.1	0.6	0.4	4.5
93442 / Morro Bay / CA / 14.1 mi.	2,271	5,196	43.7	$34,908	16.4	11.2	0.6	0.8	1.8
93449 / Shell Beach / CA / 6.5 mi.	1,928	4,235	45.5	$46,521	12.9	6.9	0.6	0.5	2.9
93444 / Nipomo / CA / 15.9 mi.	1,847	5,096	36.2	$50,231	35.7	30.8	0.6	0.7	1.4
93433 / Pismo Beach / CA / 8.2 mi.	1,480	5,039	29.4	$37,930	30.9	22.5	0.8	0.9	3.8
93428 / Cambria / CA / 30.6 mi.	1,237	2,937	42.1	$45,243	17.4	14.1	0.3	0.3	1.2
93465 / Templeton / CA / 19.3 mi.	1,142	2,723	41.9	$52,376	14.5	10.0	0.7	0.7	0.8
93445 / Oceano / CA / 9.5 mi.	678	2,500	27.1	$38,408	51.0	44.5	0.8	0.9	1.6
93430 / Cayucos / CA / 18 mi.	629	1,504	41.8	$43,040	11.5	7.9	0.2	0.2	1.3
93451 / San Miguel / CA / 32 mi.	402	927	43.4	$39,301	30.3	23.0	1.1	1.2	0.5
93453 / Sn Margarita / CA / 15.1 mi.	346	1,059	32.7	$44,545	16.1	10.8	0.3	1.1	0.6
93424 / Avila Beach / CA / 6 mi.	323	448	72.1	$39,792	7.7	4.3	0.3	0.3	1.3
93454 / Sisquoc / CA / 23.6 mi.	231	10,396	2.2	$39,007	49.4	40.9	2.0	0.7	3.9
93426 / Oak Shores / CA / 37.3 mi.	162	545	29.7	$42,045	18.0	12.2	0.7	1.7	1.9
93432 / Creston / CA / 17.5 mi.	130	456	28.5	$50,236	13.4	9.5	0.2	1.1	1.1
93455 / Santa Maria / CA / 25.8 mi.	92	13,173	0.7	$53,251	26.9	19.0	1.4	0.6	3.6
93452 / San Simeon / CA / 25.4 mi.	74	214	34.6	$42,885	43.4	40.9	0.2	0.9	0.4
93461 / Shandon / CA / 27.4 mi.	67	371	18.1	$35,903	44.6	42.0	0.3	0.3	0.4
93434 / Guadalupe / CA / 18.9 mi.	47	1,432	3.3	$30,864	91.8	84.4	0.4	0.5	4.8
93458 / Santa Maria / CA / 21.8 mi.	25	10,521	0.2	$32,589	83.7	75.9	1.4	0.4	4.6
File	ca_the_tribune__san_luis_obispo
Time	5/20/05 9:26 PM
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