Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
The Observer, La Grande
La Grande, Oregon
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	9.1
2004	7.7
2003	8.3
2002	0.0
2001	0.0
2000	0.0
1999	0.0
1998	0.0
1997	0.0
1996	0.0
1995	Did not report
1994	0.0
1993	0.0
1992	0.0
1991	Did not report
1990	0.0
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 Observer, La Grande
Year	Non-white % of newsroom staff	Non-white % of circulation area	Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005	9.1	6.3	145
2004	7.7	6.3	123
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 Observer, La Grande
This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 145.				This paper
				Peer group
Compare that with 0, which is the median Diversity Index for all newspapers
reporting in this circulation category of 5,001 to 10,000 daily sales.
In that group, this newspaper's Diversity Index ranks 18 out of 211
newspapers reporting in the category of 5,001 to 10,000 daily sales.
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of
approximately 6,072 ranks 1052 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 Observer, La Grande
	Circulation area
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	2.3	711
Black	0.4	119
Asian and Pacific Islander	1.2	371
Native-American	0.8	239
Other non-white	0.3	100
Multi-racial	1.4	440
Non-white	6.3	1,980
White	93.7	29,559
Total		31,539
	Home county:  Union
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	2.5	600
Black	0.5	117
Asian and Pacific Islander	1.4	351
Native-American	0.8	191
Other non-white	0.4	92
Multi-racial	1.4	336
Non-white	6.9	1,687
White	93.1	22,843
Total		24,530
The home county of this newspaper is Union.
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 Observer, La Grande
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
97850 / La Grande / OR / 0 mi.	3,770	6,622	56.9	$33,621	7.9	2.7	0.6	0.8	1.8
97827 / Elgin / OR / 36.1 mi.	461	961	48.0	$32,560	4.2	1.3	0.0	0.5	0.7
97883 / Union / OR / 31.4 mi.	460	884	52.0	$30,179	4.0	1.1	0.1	0.8	0.4
97824 / Cove / OR / 23 mi.	340	572	59.4	$41,302	6.1	2.6	0.3	1.5	1.2
97828 / Enterprise / OR / 52.5 mi.	332	1,322	25.1	$32,955	3.8	1.5	0.0	0.9	0.3
97846 / Joseph / OR / 55.1 mi.	184	840	21.9	$33,077	4.3	1.1	0.0	0.6	0.2
97885 / Wallowa / OR / 41.9 mi.	178	592	30.1	$30,388	4.6	2.1	0.1	0.6	0.4
97876 / Summerville / OR / 23.7 mi.	176	280	62.9	$42,308	5.8	2.4	0.6	0.7	0.6
97841 / Imbler / OR / 26 mi.	92	137	67.2	$41,827	2.1	1.1	0.0	0.0	0.5
97867 / North Powder / OR / 21.4 mi.	86	271	31.7	$27,188	8.4	4.5	0.4	0.4	0.6
97857 / Lostine / OR / 43.6 mi.	47	192	24.5	$32,105	3.9	2.5	0.0	0.0	0.4
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