The Salem News... 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 Salem News

Salem, Massachusetts

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

2.9

2004

0.0

2003

0.0

2002

3.2

2001

3.1

2000

0.0

1999

0.0

1998

0.0

1997

0.0

1996

0.0

1995

Did not report

1994

Did not report

1993

Did not report

1992

Did not report

1991

Did not report

1990

Did not report

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 Salem News

Year

Non-white % of newsroom staff

Non-white % of circulation area

Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)

2005

2.9

7.5

2004

0.0

7.5

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 Salem News

This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 39.

This paper

Peer group

Compare that with 44, which is the median Diversity Index for all newspapers

reporting in this circulation category of 25,001 to 50,000 daily sales.

In that group, this newspaper's Diversity Index ranks 84 out of 140

newspapers reporting in the 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 Herald & Review, Decatur, Illinois, with a 11.1 percent non-white staff in a community that is 11 percent non-white. Its index is 101.

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

approximately 31,137 ranks 328 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 Salem News

Circulation area

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

3.8

8,038

Black

1.0

2,117

Asian and Pacific Islander

1.3

2,808

Native-American

0.1

214

Other non-white

0.2

415

Multi-racial

1.0

2,185

Non-white

7.5

15,777

White

92.5

194,750

Total

210,527

Home county: Essex

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

11.0

79,871

Black

2.0

14,399

Asian and Pacific Islander

2.3

16,892

Native-American

0.1

964

Other non-white

0.2

1,330

Multi-racial

1.2

8,623

Non-white

16.9

122,079

White

83.1

601,340

Total

723,419

The home county of this newspaper is Essex.

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 Salem News

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

01915 / Beverly / MA / 0 mi.

7,248

15,750

46.0

$53,984

5.2

1.8

1.0

0.2

1.3

01960 / Peabody / MA / 6.1 mi.

6,954

18,581

37.4

$54,829

7.6

3.4

0.8

0.1

1.4

01970 / Salem / MA / 4.6 mi.

6,908

17,492

39.5

$44,033

17.7

11.2

2.4

0.2

2.0

01923 / Danvers / MA / 4.5 mi.

4,994

9,555

52.3

$58,779

2.8

0.8

0.3

0.1

1.1

01945 / Marblehead / MA / 4.8 mi.

1,129

8,541

13.2

$73,968

3.1

0.9

0.4

0.1

1.0

01938 / Ipswich / MA / 7.8 mi.

955

5,290

18.1

$57,284

3.1

1.0

0.3

0.1

0.8

01949 / Middleton / MA / 8.2 mi.

728

2,305

31.6

$81,395

10.1

6.3

1.4

0.1

1.2

01983 / Topsfield / MA / 6.2 mi.

454

2,099

21.6

$96,430

2.9

0.8

0.4

0.0

0.9

01984 / Wenham / MA / 2.5 mi.

394

1,285

30.7

$90,524

2.7

0.6

0.4

0.0

1.4

01907 / Swampscott / MA / 6.8 mi.

345

5,719

6.0

$71,089

3.4

1.3

0.7

0.1

0.7

01904 / Lynn / MA / 7.5 mi.

260

6,677

3.9

$56,284

11.3

4.9

3.0

0.1

1.9

01902 / Lynn / MA / 7.8 mi.

238

18,418

1.3

$31,751

46.2

23.4

11.8

0.2

6.9

01944 / Manchester / MA / 4.8 mi.

226

2,168

10.4

$73,467

1.7

0.8

0.1

0.4

01921 / Boxford / MA / 11 mi.

195

2,568

7.6

$113,212

3.2

0.9

0.3

0.1

1.2

01930 / Gloucester / MA / 8.1 mi.

118

12,592

0.9

$47,722

3.8

1.5

0.5

0.1

0.7

01969 / Rowley / MA / 10.7 mi.

113

1,958

5.8

$62,130

2.2

0.9

0.2

0.5

02114 / Boston / MA / 17.7 mi.

6,482

1.1

$55,678

21.3

4.8

6.4

0.2

8.1

01940 / Lynnfield / MA / 9.3 mi.

4,186

1.6

$80,626

3.8

0.7

0.4

0.0

1.9

01905 / Lynn / MA / 9.1 mi.

8,396

0.7

$37,099

39.9

18.6

8.6

0.2

8.9

01833 / Georgetown / MA / 12.4 mi.

2,566

1.6

$76,260

1.9

0.6

0.2

0.1

0.4

01929 / Essex / MA / 5.9 mi.

1,313

1.8

$59,554

2.2

0.9

0.1

0.4

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