The Morning Sun, Mount Pleasant... 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 Morning Sun, Mount Pleasant

Mount Pleasant, Michigan

Owner: Journal Register (N.J.)

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

Did not report

2004

Did not report

2003

Did not report

2002

Did not report

2001

Did not report

2000

7.1

1999

0.0

1998

7.1

1997

Did not report

1996

Did not report

1995

7.1

1994

0.0

1993

0.0

1992

0.0

1991

0.0

1990

0.0

The latest year at peak is

2000

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

Newsroom Diversity Index

for The Morning Sun, Mount Pleasant

Year

Non-white % of newsroom staff

Non-white % of circulation area

Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)

2005

N/A

9.7

N/A

2004

N/A

9.7

N/A

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, Journal Register (N.J.),

has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 24.

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

Peer group comparison

for The Morning Sun, Mount Pleasant

This paper

Peer group

The median Diversity Index is 33 for all newspapers

reporting in this circulation 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 The Herald, Sharon, Pennsylvania, with a 8 percent non-white staff in a community that is 7.3 percent non-white. Its index is 110.

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

approximately 11,329 ranks 729 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 Morning Sun, Mount Pleasant

Circulation area

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

3.0

3,272

Black

2.6

2,855

Asian and Pacific Islander

1.0

1,067

Native-American

1.7

1,862

Other non-white

0.1

Multi-racial

1.3

1,396

Non-white

9.7

10,532

White

90.3

97,816

Total

108,348

Home county: Isabella

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

2.2

1,419

Black

1.9

1,211

Asian and Pacific Islander

1.4

897

Native-American

2.5

1,609

Other non-white

0.1

Multi-racial

1.4

858

Non-white

9.6

6,057

White

90.4

57,294

Total

63,351

The home county of this newspaper is Isabella.

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 Morning Sun, Mount Pleasant

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

48858 / Mount Pleasant / MI / 0 mi.

5,025

15,269

32.9

$31,279

11.7

2.4

2.6

3.1

1.9

48801 / Alma / MI / 17.3 mi.

1,647

4,597

35.8

$35,875

8.2

5.7

0.4

0.7

48893 / Weidman / MI / 10.2 mi.

611

1,838

33.2

$38,655

5.1

1.9

0.4

1.6

0.1

48883 / Shepherd / MI / 7.7 mi.

504

2,683

18.8

$42,434

4.1

1.8

0.4

0.7

0.2

48880 / Saint Louis / MI / 15.2 mi.

481

2,542

18.9

$35,176

24.0

5.2

15.5

0.9

0.4

48847 / Ithaca / MI / 26.4 mi.

471

2,412

19.5

$38,525

5.6

4.0

0.2

0.5

0.3

48617 / Clare / MI / 16.7 mi.

442

3,310

13.4

$33,103

4.2

1.5

0.3

1.2

0.2

48622 / Farwell / MI / 15.1 mi.

235

2,420

9.7

$32,732

3.4

0.9

0.3

0.9

0.4

48878 / Rosebush / MI / 6.8 mi.

232

601

38.6

$39,375

4.3

1.7

0.5

1.4

0.4

48832 / Elwell / MI / 14.5 mi.

208

534

39.0

$43,068

4.5

3.1

0.3

0.4

0.0

48625 / Harrison / MI / 29.7 mi.

192

5,627

3.4

$26,773

3.6

1.3

0.4

0.7

0.3

48615 / Breckenridge / MI / 21 mi.

185

1,198

15.4

$38,295

5.2

4.3

0.1

0.3

0.1

48877 / Riverdale / MI / 15.5 mi.

134

874

15.3

$36,818

5.1

2.7

0.2

0.7

0.1

48632 / Lake / MI / 20.6 mi.

132

2,192

6.0

$29,209

3.1

1.2

0.1

0.9

0.1

49310 / Blanchard / MI / 15 mi.

120

1,018

11.8

$36,636

4.3

1.5

0.8

0.3

0.4

49340 / Remus / MI / 15.5 mi.

119

1,088

10.9

$34,833

7.3

1.6

2.7

0.9

0.1

48891 / Vestaburg / MI / 16.1 mi.

1,108

8.8

$33,641

2.9

1.6

0.3

0.2

48829 / Edmore / MI / 18.9 mi.

1,298

6.9

$31,950

5.2

2.6

0.2

0.6

0.2

48618 / Coleman / MI / 14.2 mi.

1,997

4.1

$37,679

3.1

1.2

0.0

0.8

0.1

48896 / Winn / MI / 8.5 mi.

151.1

$33,125

4.3

0.9

0.0

2.6

0.0

48889 / Sumner / MI / 22.2 mi.

488

9.0

$37,885

2.2

1.9

0.0

48856 / Middleton / MI / 29.3 mi.

343

7.9

$37,563

5.7

2.0

0.1

0.2

0.1

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