Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
Skagit Valley Herald, Mount Vernon
Mount Vernon, Washington
Owner: Pioneer Newspapers (Wash.)
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	0.0
2003	4.2
2002	5.0
2001	3.6
2000	4.0
1999	5.0
1998	8.7
1997	9.1
1996	4.0
1995	0.0
1994	0.0
1993	5.9
1992	5.0
1991	5.3
1990	5.3
The latest year at peak is	1997
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Newsroom Diversity Index
for Skagit Valley Herald, Mount Vernon
Year	Non-white % of newsroom staff	Non-white % of circulation area	Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005	0.0	16.8	0
2004	0.0	16.8	0
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, Pioneer Newspapers (Wash.),
has a companywide, circulation-weighted Diversity Index of 26.
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Peer group comparison
for Skagit Valley Herald, Mount Vernon
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 Enterprise Ledger, Alabama, with a 16.7 percent non-white staff in a community that is 24.4 percent non-white. Its index is 68.
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of
approximately 17,384 ranks 544 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 Skagit Valley Herald, Mount Vernon
	Circulation area
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	11.1	11,570
Black	0.4	428
Asian and Pacific Islander	1.6	1,674
Native-American	1.7	1,756
Other non-white	0.2	159
Multi-racial	1.9	1,932
Non-white	16.8	17,519
White	83.2	86,532
Total		104,051
	Home county:  Skagit
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	11.2	11,536
Black	0.4	422
Asian and Pacific Islander	1.6	1,659
Native-American	1.7	1,783
Other non-white	0.2	158
Multi-racial	1.9	1,925
Non-white	17.0	17,483
White	83.0	85,496
Total		102,979
The home county of this newspaper is Skagit.
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
Skagit Valley Herald, Mount Vernon
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
98273 / Mount Vernon / WA / 0 mi.	4,498	9,053	49.7	$40,304	29.2	23.3	0.6	0.8	2.4
98284 / Sedro Woolley / WA / 57.7 mi.	3,598	8,393	42.9	$40,851	10.3	5.4	0.4	2.0	0.8
98221 / Anacortes / WA / 8.7 mi.	2,585	7,885	32.8	$42,996	8.0	2.7	0.3	1.1	1.6
98233 / Burlington / WA / 6.2 mi.	2,521	4,596	54.9	$44,454	21.4	16.4	0.5	0.8	1.9
98274 / Mount Vernon / WA / 11.9 mi.	2,424	4,944	49.0	$47,136	15.9	10.9	0.5	0.8	1.8
98257 / La Conner / WA / 4.3 mi.	750	1,560	48.1	$45,870	23.2	3.7	0.3	16.8	0.6
98232 / Bow / WA / 9.6 mi.	725	1,338	54.2	$55,019	10.2	6.3	0.1	0.7	2.0
98277 / Oak Harbor / WA / 12 mi.	562	13,245	4.2	$41,891	22.5	5.7	4.0	1.1	7.7
98237 / Concrete / WA / 76.4 mi.	437	1,109	39.4	$34,038	6.5	2.2	0.2	1.1	0.7
98292 / Stanwood / WA / 16.2 mi.	358	11,858	3.0	$54,889	6.6	2.6	0.3	0.9	0.9
98235 / Clearlake / WA / 9.3 mi.	51	40	127.5	$16,250	12.6	4.2	0.0	7.4	0.0
98283 / Rockport / WA / 41.2 mi.	49	152	32.2	$41,250	6.4	0.5	0.3	1.1	1.3
98267 / Marblemount / WA / 56.6 mi.	46	239	19.2	$27,188	7.7	1.2	0.3	3.1	0.0
98226 / Bellingham / WA / 26.8 mi.	39	22,045	0.2	$44,100	15.0	4.1	0.7	4.2	3.5
98223 / Arlington / WA / 27.2 mi.	33	12,053	0.3	$51,736	9.3	3.7	0.6	1.1	1.6
File	wa_skagit_valley_herald__mount_vernon
Time	5/19/05 7:41 PM
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