Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
The Courier, Houma
Houma, Louisiana
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	11.8
2004	10.0
2003	17.6
2002	15.0
2001	10.5
2000	4.8
1999	15.8
1998	9.5
1997	0.0
1996	Did not report
1995	Did not report
1994	22.2
1993	18.8
1992	26.7
1991	21.4
1990	21.4
The latest year at peak is	1992
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Newsroom Diversity Index
for The Courier, Houma
Year	Non-white % of newsroom staff	Non-white % of circulation area	Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005	11.8	25.2	47
2004	10.0	25.2	40
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 Courier, Houma
This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 47.				This paper
				Peer group
Compare that with 33, which is the median Diversity Index for all newspapers
reporting in this circulation category of 10,001 to 25,000 daily sales.
In that group, this newspaper's Diversity Index ranks 95 out of 259
newspapers reporting in the category of 10,001 to 25,000 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 Greeley Tribune, Colorado, with a 26.3 percent non-white staff in a community that is 30 percent non-white. Its index is 88.
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of
approximately 16,938 ranks 556 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 Courier, Houma
	Circulation area
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	1.6	1,783
Black	15.9	17,804
Asian and Pacific Islander	0.8	853
Native-American	5.5	6,205
Other non-white	0.1	124
Multi-racial	1.4	1,516
Non-white	25.2	28,285
White	74.8	83,811
Total		112,096
	Home county:  Terrebonne
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	1.6	1,631
Black	17.7	18,517
Asian and Pacific Islander	0.8	850
Native-American	5.2	5,460
Other non-white	0.1	117
Multi-racial	1.3	1,380
Non-white	26.8	27,955
White	73.3	76,548
Total		104,503
The home county of this newspaper is Terrebonne.
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 Courier, Houma
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
70360 / Houma / LA / 0 mi.	4,289	7,615	56.3	$49,534	20.6	1.7	16.1	1.2	0.7
70363 / Houma / LA / 9.8 mi.	3,750	8,506	44.1	$30,019	41.7	1.7	27.7	8.5	1.8
70364 / Houma / LA / 9.7 mi.	3,565	10,183	35.0	$36,310	15.8	2.1	9.4	2.6	0.5
70343 / Bourg / LA / 13.5 mi.	999	1,553	64.3	$41,919	11.2	0.4	2.1	6.7	0.1
70344 / Chauvin / LA / 14.8 mi.	838	2,346	35.7	$27,720	10.6	0.7	6.9	2.0	0.3
70359 / Gray / LA / 6.7 mi.	677	2,100	32.2	$31,167	34.9	1.2	30.9	1.7	0.3
70377 / Montegut / LA / 22.4 mi.	486	1,469	33.1	$32,818	22.8	1.0	1.0	18.0	0.0
70395 / Schriever / LA / 7.4 mi.	449	1,440	31.2	$41,467	19.5	1.2	15.4	1.4	0.5
70394 / Raceland / LA / 19.2 mi.	415	4,936	8.4	$35,000	22.8	1.3	19.6	0.9	0.3
70301 / Thibodaux / LA / 16.4 mi.	239	14,370	1.7	$33,540	24.4	1.0	21.7	0.5	0.6
70353 / Dulac / LA / 20.8 mi.	239	727	32.9	$22,796	47.6	1.8	2.6	39.6	0.3
70356 / Gibson / LA / 10.4 mi.	234	894	26.2	$23,495	47.8	1.2	44.8	0.6	0.3
70397 / Theriot / LA / 14.2 mi.	223	516	43.2	$30,037	22.8	2.1	1.1	17.4	0.1
70374 / Lockport / LA / 24.5 mi.	184	3,580	5.1	$38,082	8.4	1.6	2.7	2.6	0.6
70357 / Golden Meadow / LA / 42.3 mi.	164	1,205	13.6	$25,486	13.0	1.2	0.7	9.0	0.2
File	la_the_courier__houma
Time	5/19/05 7:23 PM
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