Northwest Florida Daily News, Fort Walton Beach... 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

Northwest Florida Daily News, Fort Walton Beach

Fort Walton Beach, Florida

Owner: Freedom Communications (Ca.)

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

Did not report

2004

Did not report

2003

0.0

2002

Did not report

2001

0.0

2000

0.0

1999

2.8

1998

5.9

1997

8.3

1996

5.6

1995

6.1

1994

2.9

1993

3.1

1992

3.1

1991

Did not report

1990

Did not report

The latest year at peak is

1997

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

Newsroom Diversity Index

for Northwest Florida Daily News, Fort Walton Beach

Year

Non-white % of newsroom staff

Non-white % of circulation area

Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)

2005

N/A

17.5

N/A

2004

N/A

17.5

N/A

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, Freedom Communications (Ca.),

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 Northwest Florida Daily News, Fort Walton Beach

This paper

Peer group

The median Diversity Index is 44 for all newspapers

reporting in this circulation 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 39,321 ranks 268 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 Northwest Florida Daily News, Fort Walton Beach

Circulation area

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

3.9

9,011

Black

8.1

18,613

Asian and Pacific Islander

2.2

5,038

Native-American

0.7

1,496

Other non-white

0.2

468

Multi-racial

2.4

5,440

Non-white

17.5

40,066

White

82.5

189,279

Total

229,345

Home county: Okaloosa

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

4.3

7,302

Black

8.9

15,232

Asian and Pacific Islander

2.6

4,366

Native-American

0.6

931

Other non-white

0.2

379

Multi-racial

2.5

4,229

Non-white

19.0

32,439

White

81.0

138,059

Total

170,498

The home county of this newspaper is Okaloosa.

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

Northwest Florida Daily News, Fort Walton Beach

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

32578 / Niceville / FL / 33.9 mi.

5,950

10,763

55.3

$54,534

11.7

3.4

3.2

0.5

2.5

32547 / Fort Walton Beach / FL / 0 mi.

5,848

12,270

47.7

$37,773

22.3

5.0

10.0

0.5

3.3

32548 / Fort Walton Beach / FL / 2.1 mi.

4,291

9,586

44.8

$39,035

25.3

4.0

14.9

0.4

2.8

32541 / Destin / FL / 12.8 mi.

3,407

7,005

48.6

$52,388

5.6

2.4

0.5

0.4

1.0

32579 / Shalimar / FL / 3.4 mi.

2,676

4,283

62.5

$51,315

17.0

4.3

6.7

0.3

3.0

32536 / Crestview / FL / 24.1 mi.

2,320

4,918

47.2

$36,031

23.1

3.0

15.3

0.6

2.0

32566 / Navarre / FL / 15.8 mi.

2,181

7,728

28.2

$44,982

13.7

4.1

3.8

0.7

2.4

32569 / Mary Esther / FL / 8.5 mi.

2,056

4,452

46.2

$43,442

21.1

4.6

8.1

0.7

4.4

32539 / Crestview / FL / 24 mi.

1,830

6,889

26.6

$36,571

16.9

2.8

9.4

0.7

1.7

32433 / Defuniak Springs / FL / 31.9 mi.

1,624

7,275

22.3

$29,237

17.8

2.6

12.1

1.0

0.4

32459 / Santa Rosa Beach / FL / 28.8 mi.

1,202

2,785

43.2

$42,359

6.8

2.6

0.5

0.8

0.5

32439 / Freeport / FL / 27 mi.

946

2,493

37.9

$32,294

7.7

2.0

1.1

1.9

0.4

32580 / Valparaiso / FL / 8.6 mi.

729

1,714

42.5

$42,052

17.7

5.4

6.3

0.6

3.3

32542 / Eglin AFB / FL / 8.4 mi.

652

2,521

25.9

$31,598

35.1

12.8

15.1

0.3

2.8

32531 / Baker / FL / 30.1 mi.

602

1,615

37.3

$36,019

7.3

1.1

2.8

1.6

0.4

32567 / Laurel Hill / FL / 35.5 mi.

383

1,477

25.9

$26,333

12.6

0.7

8.7

1.1

0.4

32564 / Holt / FL / 18.9 mi.

236

874

27.0

$35,385

4.7

1.2

0.9

1.1

0.3

32413 / Panama City Beach / FL / 43.1 mi.

158

4,159

3.8

$37,790

5.5

1.7

0.8

0.9

32544 / Hurlburt Field / FL / 21.9 mi.

130

725

17.9

$32,163

35.3

8.2

17.8

0.7

3.5

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