The Ledger, Lakeland... 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

The Ledger, Lakeland

Lakeland, Florida

Owner: New York Times Co.

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

14.1

2004

13.8

2003

16.5

2002

14.8

2001

15.1

2000

14.5

1999

12.2

1998

12.7

1997

11.5

1996

8.8

1995

11.8

1994

12.0

1993

11.0

1992

9.9

1991

8.7

1990

11.1

The latest year at peak is

2003

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

Newsroom Diversity Index

for The Ledger, Lakeland

Year

Non-white % of newsroom staff

Non-white % of circulation area

Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)

2005

14.1

24.9

2004

13.8

24.9

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, New York Times Co.,

has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 69.

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

Peer group comparison

for The Ledger, Lakeland

This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 57.

This paper

Peer group

Compare that with 50, which is the median Diversity Index for all newspapers

reporting in this circulation category of 50,001 to 100,000 daily sales.

In that group, this newspaper's Diversity Index ranks 38 out of 90

newspapers reporting in the category of 50,001 to 100,000 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 Florida Today, Melbourne, Florida, with a 19.1 percent non-white staff in a community that is 16.3 percent non-white. Its index is 117.

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

approximately 70,763 ranks 142 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 Ledger, Lakeland

Circulation area

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

9.3

44,213

Black

13.2

62,811

Asian and Pacific Islander

1.0

4,536

Native-American

0.3

1,374

Other non-white

0.1

446

Multi-racial

1.2

5,503

Non-white

24.9

118,883

White

75.1

357,742

Total

476,625

Home county: Polk

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

9.5

45,933

Black

13.3

64,544

Asian and Pacific Islander

1.0

4,577

Native-American

0.3

1,411

Other non-white

0.1

477

Multi-racial

1.2

5,616

Non-white

25.3

122,558

White

74.7

361,366

Total

483,924

The home county of this newspaper is Polk.

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 Ledger, Lakeland

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

33813 / Lakeland / FL / 8.1 mi.

7,777

12,791

60.8

$56,828

13.1

5.1

4.2

0.2

2.6

33809 / Lakeland / FL / 12.8 mi.

5,360

11,358

47.2

$42,443

11.8

4.8

3.8

0.3

1.4

33803 / Lakeland / FL / 4.7 mi.

5,184

11,904

43.5

$37,621

14.8

7.0

4.9

0.2

1.5

33881 / Winter Haven / FL / 18.1 mi.

4,888

12,236

39.9

$30,438

34.0

4.2

26.7

0.2

0.7

33801 / Lakeland / FL / 5.9 mi.

4,060

13,347

30.4

$29,120

22.9

7.5

12.3

0.5

1.1

33884 / Winter Haven / FL / 20.8 mi.

3,819

8,283

46.1

$45,689

8.5

3.5

2.2

0.2

1.8

33823 / Auburndale / FL / 11 mi.

3,775

9,935

38.0

$34,895

17.9

7.6

8.2

0.3

0.6

33805 / Lakeland / FL / 4.9 mi.

3,696

7,646

48.3

$27,902

57.8

7.3

48.2

0.3

0.5

33810 / Lakeland / FL / 7.8 mi.

3,480

10,678

32.6

$40,294

14.1

5.0

7.1

0.2

0.7

33880 / Winter Haven / FL / 15.1 mi.

3,351

13,008

25.8

$34,293

27.7

15.5

9.2

0.3

1.2

33830 / Bartow / FL / 17.9 mi.

3,212

9,059

35.5

$36,955

35.1

10.0

23.1

0.4

0.7

33844 / Haines City / FL / 26.4 mi.

2,819

9,945

28.3

$30,802

44.0

22.1

20.1

0.3

0.4

33811 / Lakeland / FL / 4.4 mi.

2,458

6,214

39.6

$44,274

14.9

6.2

6.8

0.2

0.6

33853 / Lake Wales / FL / 27.4 mi.

2,301

14,282

16.1

$30,135

25.7

7.7

16.0

0.4

0.5

33815 / Lakeland / FL / 0 mi.

1,565

5,438

28.8

$25,269

41.6

12.1

27.3

0.3

0.5

33837 / Davenport / FL / 26.3 mi.

1,330

8,627

15.4

$39,234

20.9

14.3

4.2

0.3

0.9

33860 / Mulberry / FL / 15.4 mi.

1,077

6,109

17.6

$40,929

25.6

12.2

11.7

0.3

0.5

33843 / Frostproof / FL / 42.6 mi.

1,041

3,695

28.2

$28,779

33.9

22.3

9.5

0.4

0.2

33868 / Polk City / FL / 16.8 mi.

1,008

3,294

30.6

$37,157

22.9

6.9

14.2

0.4

0.5

33850 / Lake Alfred / FL / 17.2 mi.

903

1,587

56.9

$37,048

23.7

6.4

15.0

0.3

0.7

33841 / Fort Meade / FL / 26 mi.

715

2,764

25.9

$34,005

38.9

22.5

15.5

0.4

0.1

33827 / Babson Park / FL / 32.2 mi.

712

896

79.5

$40,455

16.8

5.8

8.9

0.1

0.9

33838 / Dundee / FL / 23.4 mi.

616

1,084

56.8

$28,942

36.2

11.4

22.5

0.0

1.0

33567 / Plant City / FL / 10.6 mi.

499

8,675

5.8

$42,375

31.3

22.2

6.8

0.3

0.9

33566 / Plant City / FL / 5.5 mi.

322

7,805

4.1

$34,358

38.3

16.4

20.3

0.2

0.5

33835 / Bradley / FL / 17.4 mi.

320

1882.4

16.0

2.0

4.0

0.0

33839 / Eagle Lake / FL / 15.5 mi.

176

605

29.1

$31,750

14.7

7.8

5.7

0.3

0.1

33834 / Bowling Green / FL / 27.8 mi.

143

1,957

7.3

$29,256

47.2

31.4

14.4

0.4

33851 / Lake Hamilton / FL / 22.9 mi.

120

334

35.9

$40,938

10.9

6.1

3.2

0.7

0.4

33873 / Wauchula / FL / 35.5 mi.

117

4,486

2.6

$30,833

45.6

37.0

6.6

0.4

0.3

34759 / Kissimmee / FL / 35.5 mi.

113

2,562

4.4

$40,099

53.9

37.2

12.5

0.4

1.1

33565 / Plant City / FL / 9.9 mi.

6,194

1.0

$39,688

11.5

8.5

1.4

0.4

0.5

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