The News-Press, Fort Myers... 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 News-Press, Fort Myers

Fort Myers, Florida

Owner: Gannett Co. (Va.)

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

18.9

2004

17.9

2003

10.8

2002

11.5

2001

15.6

2000

12.5

1999

13.0

1998

17.8

1997

15.6

1996

16.2

1995

15.3

1994

11.5

1993

7.6

1992

8.0

1991

Did not report

1990

Did not report

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 News-Press, Fort Myers

Year

Non-white % of newsroom staff

Non-white % of circulation area

Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)

2005

18.9

19.2

2004

17.9

19.0

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, Gannett Co. (Va.),

has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 89.

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

Peer group comparison

for The News-Press, Fort Myers

This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 98.

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 13 out of 90

newspapers reporting in the category of 50,001 to 100,000 daily sales.

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

approximately 90,168 ranks 118 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 News-Press, Fort Myers

Circulation area

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

10.8

51,070

Black

6.2

29,521

Asian and Pacific Islander

0.8

3,621

Native-American

0.2

1,039

Other non-white

0.1

572

Multi-racial

1.0

4,649

Non-white

19.0

90,472

White

81.0

384,621

Total

475,093

Home county: Lee

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

9.5

42,042

Black

6.4

28,020

Asian and Pacific Islander

0.8

3,490

Native-American

0.2

944

Other non-white

0.1

554

Multi-racial

1.0

4,399

Non-white

18.0

79,449

White

82.0

361,439

Total

440,888

The home county of this newspaper is Lee.

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 News-Press, Fort Myers

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

33908 / Fort Myers / FL / 8.5 mi.

8,976

12,287

73.1

$40,981

8.2

5.1

2.0

0.1

0.5

33912 / South Fort Myers / FL / 7.9 mi.

6,496

13,376

48.6

$51,708

8.7

5.5

1.0

0.2

1.1

33919 / Fort Myers / FL / 5 mi.

6,315

12,866

49.1

$43,027

7.2

4.0

1.3

0.1

1.0

33917 / North Fort Myers / FL / 5.1 mi.

5,702

13,043

43.7

$33,120

4.7

2.8

0.4

0.3

0.4

33904 / Cape Coral / FL / 5.2 mi.

5,595

14,929

37.5

$40,352

9.7

6.6

1.1

0.2

0.8

33903 / North Fort Myers / FL / 4.2 mi.

5,410

11,209

48.3

$33,946

8.2

4.8

1.4

0.4

0.8

33931 / Fort Myers Beach / FL / 12.2 mi.

4,363

5,566

78.4

$41,291

4.0

2.9

0.1

0.3

33914 / Cape Coral / FL / 8.2 mi.

4,080

9,858

41.4

$49,148

11.8

8.3

1.4

0.2

0.7

33907 / Fort Myers / FL / 4.2 mi.

3,927

9,717

40.4

$35,065

24.2

15.1

6.2

0.2

1.3

34135 / Bonita Springs / FL / 17.4 mi.

3,521

10,402

33.8

$41,334

28.1

26.4

0.4

0.2

0.4

33905 / Tice / FL / 6.3 mi.

3,510

9,179

38.2

$35,039

38.0

22.2

13.5

0.2

0.9

33928 / Estero / FL / 13 mi.

3,492

4,364

80.0

$41,380

4.9

3.8

0.4

0.1

0.3

33901 / Fort Myers / FL / 0 mi.

3,400

9,021

37.7

$29,875

37.1

10.4

21.7

0.2

1.2

33990 / Cape Coral Central / FL / 4.9 mi.

2,756

8,679

31.8

$42,185

16.2

10.8

2.5

0.2

1.5

33957 / Sanibel / FL / 17.1 mi.

2,691

3,068

87.7

$78,780

3.2

1.4

0.9

0.1

0.4

34134 / Bonita Springs / FL / 17.2 mi.

2,368

6,046

39.2

$66,947

3.4

2.3

0.3

0.1

0.5

33936 / Lehigh Acres / FL / 14.6 mi.

2,290

6,658

34.4

$33,276

25.9

15.3

7.9

0.1

0.9

33916 / Fort Myers / FL / 1.9 mi.

1,941

7,080

27.4

$24,050

78.4

17.3

58.5

0.3

0.5

33991 / Matlacha Isles / FL / 7.8 mi.

1,347

3,279

41.1

$46,958

11.1

6.7

2.2

0.3

1.0

33909 / Cape Coral / FL / 6.8 mi.

1,163

2,965

39.2

$42,541

15.8

9.8

3.2

0.4

0.8

33935 / Labelle / FL / 25.9 mi.

1,097

5,313

20.6

$33,065

52.8

46.3

5.1

0.3

33956 / Saint James City / FL / 14.4 mi.

1,042

2,128

49.0

$35,746

1.7

0.8

0.1

0.2

0.3

33971 / Lehigh Acres / FL / 10 mi.

977

2,682

36.4

$43,961

28.3

15.3

10.4

0.4

0.8

33972 / Lehigh Acres / FL / 13.7 mi.

951

3,148

30.2

$43,920

18.2

7.8

8.3

0.2

0.7

33993 / Matlacha / FL / 10.6 mi.

845

1,565

54.0

$45,302

8.0

4.9

1.2

0.2

0.6

33922 / Bokeelia / FL / 15.4 mi.

772

1,916

40.3

$37,981

8.5

7.0

0.1

0.5

0.2

33913 / Miromar Lakes / FL / 11.7 mi.

756

1,459

51.8

$74,564

14.4

9.0

2.7

0.1

1.4

33920 / Alva / FL / 14.6 mi.

673

1,780

37.8

$42,806

15.6

6.4

7.7

0.2

33924 / Captiva / FL / 19.9 mi.

644

175

368.0

$68,929

2.1

0.9

0.0

0.9

33955 / Punta Gorda / FL / 15.5 mi.

403

2,859

14.1

$42,334

4.2

2.0

1.1

0.2

0.6

34110 / Naples / FL / 21.4 mi.

341

7,327

4.7

$53,761

7.9

6.3

0.7

0.1

0.5

33982 / Punta Gorda / FL / 22.9 mi.

334

3,687

9.1

$33,750

10.2

2.9

5.7

0.3

0.4

34142 / Immokalee / FL / 37.3 mi.

209

5,387

3.9

$25,189

89.8

67.4

18.0

0.7

0.2

33950 / Punta Gorda / FL / 21.1 mi.

199

9,646

2.1

$41,180

6.5

1.9

3.0

0.2

0.7

33952 / Port Charlotte / FL / 26.9 mi.

199

13,845

1.4

$31,775

13.2

5.5

4.9

0.3

1.1

34102 / Naples / FL / 31.6 mi.

117

5,994

2.0

$55,648

13.9

2.4

7.8

0.1

0.4

34108 / Naples / FL / 25.5 mi.

117

7,766

1.5

$61,475

9.8

7.9

0.7

0.1

0.7

33440 / Clewiston / FL / 54 mi.

110

5,815

1.9

$33,290

59.6

35.6

21.7

0.3

0.7

34109 / Naples / FL / 25.9 mi.

106

7,699

1.4

$52,591

9.5

6.6

1.1

0.1

1.1

34104 / Naples / FL / 31.3 mi.

8,418

1.2

$45,032

20.6

14.4

3.4

0.2

1.3

34112 / Naples / FL / 33.7 mi.

12,012

0.7

$38,244

24.3

16.7

5.3

0.2

0.6

33471 / Moore Haven / FL / 45.9 mi.

1,996

3.9

$29,819

34.1

13.3

19.0

0.7

0.4

34113 / Naples / FL / 37.3 mi.

5,677

1.3

$43,630

38.9

30.5

6.9

0.1

0.4

34116 / Naples / FL / 30 mi.

8,137

0.7

$43,805

44.3

32.4

8.5

0.1

0.8

34103 / Naples / FL / 28.5 mi.

6,534

0.8

$61,114

9.4

7.8

0.6

0.1

0.5

34119 / Naples / FL / 25.5 mi.

3,906

1.1

$71,901

6.6

4.5

0.6

0.1

0.6

34105 / Naples / FL / 29.1 mi.

4,755

0.8

$59,059

8.3

5.8

0.6

0.0

1.1

33980 / Punta Gorda / FL / 25.2 mi.

4,385

0.5

$31,865

13.9

3.7

8.0

0.1

1.2

33921 / Boca Grande / FL / 24.2 mi.

773

2.7

$127,020

1.7

1.1

0.4

0.0

0.1

33930 / Felda / FL / 20.3 mi.

246

8.5

$37,422

32.1

29.8

0.6

0.1

0.0

33948 / Port Charlotte / FL / 27.9 mi.

6,099

0.2

$37,236

12.9

4.1

6.3

0.2

1.1

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