Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
The Marion Star
Marion, Ohio
Owner: Gannett Co. (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	13.3
2004	11.8
2003	0.0
2002	0.0
2001	0.0
2000	0.0
1999	0.0
1998	Did not report
1997	Did not report
1996	10.5
1995	0.0
1994	0.0
1993	Did not report
1992	Did not report
1991	Did not report
1990	Did not report
The latest year at peak is	2005
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Newsroom Diversity Index
for The Marion Star
Year	Non-white % of newsroom staff	Non-white % of circulation area	Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005	13.3	7.3	182
2004	11.8	7.4	161
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, Gannett Co. (Va.),
has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 89.
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Peer group comparison
for The Marion Star
This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 182.				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 23 out of 259
newspapers reporting in the category of 10,001 to 25,000 daily sales.
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of
approximately 13,695 ranks 656 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 Marion Star
	Circulation area
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	1.0	798
Black	4.8	3,824
Asian and Pacific Islander	0.4	356
Native-American	0.2	157
Other non-white	0.1	105
Multi-racial	0.8	676
Non-white	7.4	5,916
White	92.7	74,546
Total		80,462
	Home county:  Marion
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	1.1	723
Black	5.7	3,779
Asian and Pacific Islander	0.5	343
Native-American	0.2	120
Other non-white	0.1	96
Multi-racial	0.9	576
Non-white	8.5	5,637
White	91.5	60,580
Total		66,217
The home county of this newspaper is Marion.
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 Marion Star
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
43302 / Marion / OH / 0 mi.	11,194	20,147	55.6	$36,925	10.1	1.2	6.9	0.2	0.6
43342 / Prospect / OH / 7.7 mi.	487	1,211	40.2	$47,917	1.2	0.4	0.2	0.1	0.1
43314 / Caledonia / OH / 8.2 mi.	459	1,231	37.3	$42,077	1.5	0.5	0.3	0.1	0.1
43332 / La Rue / OH / 11.9 mi.	418	830	50.4	$41,761	2.0	0.5	0.3	0.4	0.0
43338 / Mount Gilead / OH / 16.9 mi.	412	3,519	11.7	$39,273	2.2	0.7	0.5	0.2	0.3
43344 / Richwood / OH / 14.6 mi.	218	1,991	10.9	$46,151	2.1	0.6	0.4	0.1	0.0
43315 / Cardington / OH / 14.5 mi.	173	2,325	7.4	$40,397	2.1	0.5	0.2	0.5	0.2
43356 / Waldo / OH / 8.5 mi.	161	401	40.1	$42,440	1.1	0.2	0.0	0.1	0.3
43320 / Edison / OH / 11.8 mi.	108	552	19.6	$41,324	1.8	0.6	0.3	0.3	0.1
43322 / Green Camp / OH / 5.6 mi.	80	133	60.2	$42,188	0.3	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
43351 / Upper Sandusky / OH / 17.6 mi.	61	4,093	1.5	$38,367	3.1	2.1	0.1	0.1	0.4
43326 / Kenton / OH / 23.9 mi.	52	5,515	0.9	$34,428	3.1	1.0	0.7	0.3	0.3
43341 / New Bloomington / OH / 9.5 mi.	44	329	13.4	$48,988	1.8	0.6	0.0	0.0	0.2
44833 / Sugar Grove Lake / OH / 18.6 mi.	30	7,477	0.4	$35,398	2.2	0.8	0.2	0.2	0.3
43334 / Marengo / OH / 19.7 mi.	26	2,003	1.3	$47,000	2.0	0.6	0.2	0.2	0.1
44820 / New Winchester / OH / 16.6 mi.	26	7,826	0.3	$36,282	2.7	0.8	0.7	0.2	0.4
File	oh_the_marion_star
Time	5/19/05 10:28 PM
Page	655
Member	135950