Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
The Paris Beacon-News
Paris, Illinois
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	10.0
2004	9.1
2003	10.0
2002	12.5
2001	0.0
2000	0.0
1999	0.0
1998	0.0
1997	0.0
1996	0.0
1995	0.0
1994	0.0
1993	0.0
1992	0.0
1991	0.0
1990	0.0
The latest year at peak is	2002
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Newsroom Diversity Index
for The Paris Beacon-News
Year	Non-white % of newsroom staff	Non-white % of circulation area	Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005	10.0	3.3	302
2004	9.1	3.3	275
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.)
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Peer group comparison
for The Paris Beacon-News
This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 302.				This paper
				Peer group
Compare that with 0, which is the median Diversity Index for all newspapers
reporting in this circulation category of 5,001 to 10,000 daily sales.
In that group, this newspaper's Diversity Index ranks 9 out of 211
newspapers reporting in the category of 5,001 to 10,000 daily sales.
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of
approximately 5,002 ranks 1152 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 Paris Beacon-News
	Circulation area
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	0.8	154
Black	1.8	362
Asian and Pacific Islander	0.2	36
Native-American	0.1	26
Other non-white	0.0	3
Multi-racial	0.4	71
Non-white	3.3	652
White	96.7	19,052
Total		19,704
	Home county:  Edgar
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	0.8	154
Black	1.8	362
Asian and Pacific Islander	0.2	36
Native-American	0.1	26
Other non-white	0.0	3
Multi-racial	0.4	71
Non-white	3.3	652
White	96.7	19,052
Total		19,704
For this newspaper the home county was used as the circulation area. That county is Edgar.
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: Newspaper's home county.
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.
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