Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
The Item, Sumter
Sumter, South Carolina
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	0.0
2004	13.0
2003	15.0
2002	23.8
2001	25.0
2000	25.0
1999	15.8
1998	17.6
1997	Did not report
1996	Did not report
1995	Did not report
1994	14.3
1993	13.6
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 The Item, Sumter
Year	Non-white % of newsroom staff	Non-white % of circulation area	Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005	0.0	54.3	0
2004	13.0	54.3	24
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 Item, Sumter
This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 0.				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 159 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 Albuquerque Tribune, New Mexico, with a 28.9 percent non-white staff in a community that is 51.7 percent non-white. Its index is 56.
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of
approximately 21,389 ranks 451 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 Item, Sumter
	Circulation area
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	1.6	2,381
Black	51.0	75,852
Asian and Pacific Islander	0.6	912
Native-American	0.2	315
Other non-white	0.1	131
Multi-racial	0.7	1,054
Non-white	54.3	80,645
White	45.7	67,979
Total		148,624
	Home county:  Sumter
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	1.8	1,918
Black	46.5	48,617
Asian and Pacific Islander	1.0	994
Native-American	0.3	257
Other non-white	0.2	157
Multi-racial	1.0	1,039
Non-white	50.6	52,982
White	49.4	51,664
Total		104,646
The home county of this newspaper is Sumter.
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 Item, Sumter
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
29150 / Sumter / SC / 0 mi.	8,915	14,644	60.9	$30,698	54.2	1.5	50.7	0.2	0.9
29154 / Sumter / SC / 14.5 mi.	3,923	9,042	43.4	$41,781	34.8	1.5	30.8	0.3	1.0
29102 / Manning / SC / 19.4 mi.	2,260	5,975	37.8	$27,146	55.2	2.0	52.2	0.2	0.3
29153 / Sumter / SC / 10.2 mi.	2,156	5,266	40.9	$29,668	55.6	1.7	52.7	0.2	0.4
29040 / Dalzell / SC / 18.9 mi.	815	2,552	31.9	$39,646	47.9	2.3	42.1	0.4	1.3
29010 / Bishopville / SC / 21.8 mi.	776	4,440	17.5	$26,193	62.3	1.2	60.4	0.2	0.2
29148 / Summerton / SC / 25.2 mi.	630	2,541	24.8	$25,076	57.7	1.6	54.8	0.2	0.4
29125 / Pinewood / SC / 22.5 mi.	425	1,284	33.1	$20,962	74.5	1.4	72.3	0.2	0.1
29168 / Wedgefield / SC / 20 mi.	290	1,222	23.7	$27,697	57.1	1.1	53.9	0.2	0.5
29128 / Rembert / SC / 21.4 mi.	282	2,000	14.1	$26,044	77.8	1.1	75.8	0.2	0.3
29080 / Lynchburg / SC / 9.5 mi.	260	1,428	18.2	$26,574	80.1	2.9	76.5	0.0	0.0
29001 / Alcolu / SC / 10.9 mi.	231	819	28.2	$31,094	57.9	0.9	56.4	0.2	0.0
29104 / Mayesville / SC / 9.9 mi.	215	689	31.2	$26,071	79.5	1.2	76.9	0.3	0.3
29162 / Turbeville / SC / 11.4 mi.	151	976	15.5	$29,257	32.4	2.7	29.3	0.0	0.2
29051 / Gable / SC / 8.5 mi.	107	313	34.2	$29,762	62.7	0.9	61.3	0.4	0.0
29111 / New Zion / SC / 14.5 mi.	102	548	18.6	$38,292	59.5	1.0	57.3	0.3	0.2
29152 / Shaw A F B / SC / 15.6 mi.	99	1,616	6.1	$30,454	36.3	5.7	22.8	0.5	3.3
29046 / Elliott / SC / 13.3 mi.	56	103	54.4	$23,750	94.1	1.8	92.3	0.0	0.0
29062 / Horatio / SC / 22.1 mi.	35	48	72.9	$12,188	51.6	0.0	46.2	0.0	0.0
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Time	5/21/05 10:34 AM
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