The Jackson Sun... 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 Jackson Sun

Jackson, Tennessee

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

37.5

2004

38.2

2003

35.3

2002

Did not report

2001

27.0

2000

21.1

1999

31.6

1998

25.5

1997

30.8

1996

26.2

1995

26.8

1994

Did not report

1993

25.6

1992

29.4

1991

27.3

1990

Did not report

The latest year at peak is

2004

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

Newsroom Diversity Index

for The Jackson Sun

Year

Non-white % of newsroom staff

Non-white % of circulation area

Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)

2005

37.5

24.7

152

2004

38.2

24.7

155

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 Jackson Sun

This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 152.

This paper

Peer group

Compare that with 44, which is the median Diversity Index for all newspapers

reporting in this circulation category of 25,001 to 50,000 daily sales.

In that group, this newspaper's Diversity Index ranks 9 out of 140

newspapers reporting in the category of 25,001 to 50,000 daily sales.

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

approximately 35,080 ranks 290 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 Jackson Sun

Circulation area

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

1.7

4,673

Black

21.8

61,054

Asian and Pacific Islander

0.3

893

Native-American

0.2

490

Other non-white

0.1

138

Multi-racial

0.7

2,062

Non-white

24.7

69,310

White

75.3

211,460

Total

280,770

Home county: Madison

Race/ethnicity

% of population

Number of residents

Hispanic

1.7

1,572

Black

32.3

29,657

Asian and Pacific Islander

0.6

572

Native-American

0.2

137

Other non-white

0.1

Multi-racial

0.8

690

Non-white

35.6

32,684

White

64.4

59,153

Total

91,837

The home county of this newspaper is Madison.

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 Jackson Sun

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

38305 / Jackson / TN / 6.1 mi.

8,432

15,689

53.7

$47,142

25.0

2.2

20.6

0.2

1.2

38301 / Jackson / TN / 2.4 mi.

7,068

15,723

45.0

$26,549

50.7

1.4

48.1

0.2

38351 / Lexington / TN / 24.5 mi.

2,001

6,626

30.2

$31,791

11.2

1.0

8.8

0.1

0.2

38343 / Three Way / TN / 16.1 mi.

1,577

6,522

24.2

$31,644

31.4

1.2

29.2

0.2

0.1

38340 / Henderson / TN / 15.2 mi.

1,186

4,185

28.3

$34,311

14.7

1.0

12.3

0.2

0.3

38358 / Milan Army Ammunition Plant / TN / 21.9 mi.

1,123

4,844

23.2

$32,904

19.0

1.3

16.3

0.2

0.3

38382 / Trenton / TN / 25.2 mi.

1,107

4,023

27.5

$30,564

21.7

1.4

19.2

0.1

0.2

38344 / Leach / TN / 35.2 mi.

939

3,617

26.0

$30,597

15.7

1.1

13.2

0.3

0.1

38012 / Brownsville / TN / 21.5 mi.

796

5,737

13.9

$28,403

57.0

3.1

53.3

0.1

38375 / Selmer / TN / 30.5 mi.

736

3,594

20.5

$29,144

13.5

1.1

10.8

0.1

0.2

38008 / Bolivar / TN / 22.4 mi.

689

3,969

17.4

$30,214

51.3

0.7

49.7

0.1

0.3

38320 / Camden / TN / 49.8 mi.

669

4,462

15.0

$29,277

5.2

1.0

2.9

0.3

38363 / Parsons / TN / 38.6 mi.

649

2,447

26.5

$28,219

7.7

2.7

4.0

0.2

38201 / McKenzie / TN / 39.2 mi.

582

3,873

15.0

$31,444

11.7

1.8

8.3

0.1

0.3

38006 / Bells / TN / 15.1 mi.

562

1,906

29.5

$28,961

27.0

12.0

14.4

0.1

38237 / Martin / TN / 48.2 mi.

456

5,829

7.8

$31,030

16.8

1.6

11.3

0.1

2.8

38372 / Savannah / TN / 40.5 mi.

431

6,952

6.2

$27,199

6.2

1.0

4.0

0.2

38330 / Dyer / TN / 31.9 mi.

422

1,780

23.7

$30,745

12.7

0.6

11.4

0.1

38316 / Bradford / TN / 30.5 mi.

342

1,183

28.9

$32,607

5.9

0.7

4.2

0.2

0.0

38220 / Atwood / TN / 27.9 mi.

329

848

38.8

$27,361

18.0

1.5

15.3

0.1

38313 / Beech Bluff / TN / 11.2 mi.

297

1,073

27.7

$37,319

6.0

1.0

4.0

0.2

38001 / Alamo / TN / 18.3 mi.

276

1,735

15.9

$29,536

19.7

3.1

15.6

0.1

38329 / Decaturville / TN / 39.6 mi.

262

1,299

20.2

$30,354

6.4

1.2

3.8

0.2

38369 / Rutherford / TN / 35 mi.

262

823

31.8

$30,430

16.5

0.5

15.1

0.3

0.1

38310 / Adamsville / TN / 34 mi.

232

2,250

10.3

$31,301

3.0

0.8

1.1

0.2

0.1

38366 / Pinson / TN / 9.1 mi.

217

793

27.4

$42,614

12.5

1.3

10.4

0.1

0.0

38225 / Dresden / TN / 45.6 mi.

211

2,600

8.1

$30,735

5.1

0.5

3.6

0.1

0.2

38388 / Wildersville / TN / 26 mi.

208

685

30.4

$30,167

29.6

1.5

27.4

0.1

38334 / Finger / TN / 22.3 mi.

203

663

30.6

$34,732

5.3

0.5

2.5

1.0

0.3

38261 / Union City / TN / 54.7 mi.

200

6,950

2.9

$33,915

18.7

2.8

14.6

0.2

0.3

38374 / Scotts Hill / TN / 33.2 mi.

192

667

28.8

$31,638

2.3

1.2

0.2

0.3

0.1

38230 / Greenfield / TN / 36.3 mi.

182

1,628

11.2

$27,813

7.5

1.3

5.4

0.3

0.1

38355 / Medina / TN / 11.7 mi.

180

1,025

17.6

$39,583

3.2

0.6

1.4

0.2

0.0

38321 / Cedar Grove / TN / 24.9 mi.

174

908

19.2

$29,550

5.4

0.2

4.4

0.4

0.1

38337 / Gadsden / TN / 13.4 mi.

169

593

28.5

$38,977

12.9

1.1

10.4

0.3

0.0

38024 / Dyersburg / TN / 39.7 mi.

156

11,160

1.4

$32,185

17.4

1.2

14.9

0.2

0.4

38050 / Maury City / TN / 23.9 mi.

149

169

88.2

$25,192

45.4

1.0

43.6

0.0

38368 / Reagan / TN / 26.9 mi.

148

741

20.0

$30,313

2.6

1.4

0.7

0.3

0.0

38229 / Gleason / TN / 42.1 mi.

147

1,229

12.0

$29,684

1.9

0.9

0.3

0.2

0.0

38034 / Friendship / TN / 26.9 mi.

145

1,375

10.5

$26,883

12.7

1.7

10.6

0.2

0.0

38317 / Bruceton / TN / 43.1 mi.

142

1,108

12.8

$28,297

8.6

0.8

6.6

0.3

0.1

38315 / Bethel Springs / TN / 25.9 mi.

138

1,488

9.3

$28,750

5.2

0.9

3.4

0.2

0.0

38255 / Sharon / TN / 41.4 mi.

107

1,002

10.7

$30,337

6.5

0.8

5.3

0.0

38390 / Yuma / TN / 30.6 mi.

383

25.8

$27,778

8.4

2.2

4.0

0.5

0.6

38391 / Denmark / TN / 7.6 mi.

457

21.0

$33,618

76.8

0.6

74.6

0.2

0.1

38044 / Hornsby / TN / 23.8 mi.

381

18.6

$29,375

2.7

0.1

1.4

0.0

38258 / Trezevant / TN / 31.4 mi.

684

4.7

$26,078

15.6

1.0

13.9

0.0

38052 / Middleton / TN / 34.1 mi.

1,453

2.1

$31,932

9.2

0.3

7.6

0.0

0.7

38342 / Hollow Rock / TN / 41.5 mi.

649

4.3

$28,750

7.8

0.5

6.2

0.1

38059 / Newbern / TN / 39.8 mi.

2,536

1.1

$33,214

8.7

0.9

6.7

0.2

0.3

38075 / Whiteville / TN / 23 mi.

1,225

2.0

$29,455

57.0

1.9

52.5

0.8

0.3

38235 / McLemoresville / TN / 29.1 mi.

105

16.2

$27,946

7.5

3.1

3.5

0.4

0.0

38361 / Morris Chapel / TN / 35 mi.

376

4.0

$27,159

12.0

0.9

9.4

0.1

38370 / Saltillo / TN / 36.7 mi.

307

4.9

$22,400

15.3

0.2

14.6

0.2

38359 / Milledgeville / TN / 28.8 mi.

122

11.5

$27,813

3.9

0.8

0.0

1.2

0.4

38378 / Spring Creek / TN / 15.3 mi.

52.4

$53,542

1.7

0.0

1.7

0.0

38242 / Paris / TN / 53.8 mi.

7,961

0.1

$29,313

14.9

0.9

12.4

0.1

0.4

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