Hickory Daily Record... 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

Hickory Daily Record

Hickory, North Carolina

Owner: Media General (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

4.8

2004

6.7

2003

Did not report

2002

Did not report

2001

13.6

2000

7.4

1999

9.1

1998

11.5

1997

11.5

1996

4.0

1995

4.0

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

2001

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

Newsroom Diversity Index

for Hickory Daily Record

Year

Non-white % of newsroom staff

Non-white % of circulation area

Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)

2005

4.8

14.3

2004

6.7

14.3

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, Media General (Va.),

has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 39.

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

Peer group comparison

for Hickory Daily Record

This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 34.

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 125 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 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 21,593 ranks 447 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 Hickory Daily Record

Circulation area

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

4.4

9,232

Black

6.4

13,504

Asian and Pacific Islander

2.5

5,302

Native-American

0.2

410

Other non-white

0.1

152

Multi-racial

0.8

1,664

Non-white

14.3

30,264

White

85.7

181,937

Total

212,201

Home county: Catawba

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

5.6

7,886

Black

8.3

11,751

Asian and Pacific Islander

2.9

4,137

Native-American

0.2

302

Other non-white

0.1

110

Multi-racial

0.8

1,173

Non-white

17.9

25,359

White

82.1

116,326

Total

141,685

The home county of this newspaper is Catawba.

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

Hickory Daily Record

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

28601 / Hickory / NC / 0 mi.

6,354

18,693

34.0

$42,046

15.8

6.8

4.9

0.2

3.0

28602 / Hickory / NC / 8.1 mi.

3,291

10,695

30.8

$36,715

25.1

4.9

15.4

0.2

3.6

28658 / Newton / NC / 10 mi.

2,522

9,568

26.4

$38,620

19.1

6.2

8.7

0.3

3.0

28613 / Conover / NC / 6.7 mi.

2,171

7,664

28.3

$40,722

17.2

6.1

5.3

0.2

4.5

28681 / Taylorsville / NC / 12.6 mi.

1,003

9,399

10.7

$39,018

9.7

2.5

5.0

0.1

1.3

28630 / Granite Falls / NC / 7 mi.

975

6,706

14.5

$39,763

4.6

2.6

1.0

0.2

0.4

28610 / Claremont / NC / 11 mi.

796

3,292

24.2

$41,936

11.4

2.4

5.8

0.1

2.4

28650 / Maiden / NC / 16 mi.

793

3,968

20.0

$41,298

11.2

3.6

5.9

0.3

0.9

28612 / Connelly Springs / NC / 13.6 mi.

473

4,685

10.1

$37,354

6.1

0.6

1.1

0.2

3.5

28168 / Vale / NC / 18.7 mi.

424

3,553

11.9

$40,467

7.3

1.7

4.1

0.2

0.7

28609 / Catawba / NC / 17.1 mi.

424

2,145

19.8

$42,101

12.2

1.6

9.2

0.3

0.6

28637 / Hildebran / NC / 6.6 mi.

298

624

47.8

$33,029

7.4

1.2

1.1

0.6

3.9

28645 / Lenoir / NC / 18.7 mi.

295

18,605

1.6

$33,181

12.5

2.5

8.5

0.2

0.4

28638 / Hudson / NC / 10.5 mi.

213

4,815

4.4

$37,665

4.1

2.6

0.4

0.2

0.4

28673 / Sherrills Ford / NC / 19.4 mi.

205

1,713

12.0

$45,045

8.4

0.9

6.5

0.2

0.1

28690 / Valdese / NC / 13.7 mi.

157

4,069

3.9

$32,923

10.5

2.8

2.4

0.2

4.3

28655 / Morganton / NC / 24.1 mi.

133

20,764

0.6

$36,089

19.6

4.9

9.9

0.3

3.5

28671 / Rutherford College / NC / 11.6 mi.

196

29.1

$41,339

5.4

0.0

0.6

0.0

4.6

28092 / Lincolnton / NC / 19.3 mi.

13,266

0.3

$39,115

17.5

8.9

7.4

0.2

0.3

28619 / Drexel / NC / 15.9 mi.

529

3.6

$29,375

15.5

2.8

3.6

0.7

7.8

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