Comparing the racial diversity of the journalists
at America's daily newspapers
with the communities that they serve
Newsroom diversity report for
The Olympian, Olympia
Olympia, Washington
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	14.3
2004	17.9
2003	17.1
2002	15.9
2001	17.9
2000	17.5
1999	8.9
1998	14.0
1997	15.9
1996	16.7
1995	18.8
1994	Did not report
1993	12.5
1992	13.2
1991	10.5
1990	Did not report
The latest year at peak is	1995
See the notes and definitions section below for the sources of these figures.
Newsroom Diversity Index
for The Olympian, Olympia
Year	Non-white % of newsroom staff	Non-white % of circulation area	Newsroom Diversity Index (parity=100)
2005	14.3	16.1	89
2004	17.9	16.2	111
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 Olympian, Olympia
This newspaper's Newsroom Diversity Index is 89.				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 19 out of 140
newspapers reporting in the category of 25,001 to 50,000 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 Jackson Sun, Tennessee, with a 37.5 percent non-white staff in a community that is 24.7 percent non-white. Its index is 152.
FYI, in circulation, this newspaper's average weekday circulation of
approximately 33,848 ranks 302 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 Olympian, Olympia
	Circulation area
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	4.6	11,602
Black	2.1	5,243
Asian and Pacific Islander	4.2	10,633
Native-American	1.9	4,923
Other non-white	0.3	643
Multi-racial	3.2	8,021
Non-white	16.2	41,065
White	83.8	212,574
Total		253,639
	Home county:  Thurston
Race/ethnicity	% of population	Number of residents
Hispanic	4.5	9,392
Black	2.3	4,714
Asian and Pacific Islander	4.9	10,064
Native-American	1.4	2,883
Other non-white	0.3	576
Multi-racial	3.3	6,763
Non-white	16.6	34,392
White	83.4	172,963
Total		207,355
The home county of this newspaper is Thurston.
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 Olympian, Olympia
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
98501 / Union Mills / WA / 1.4 mi.	6,358	13,827	46.0	$47,230	13.0	3.8	1.1	1.1	3.8
98503 / Olympia / WA / 4.1 mi.	4,318	12,851	33.6	$44,902	23.0	6.2	4.3	1.3	7.2
98502 / Olympia / WA / 4.4 mi.	4,313	10,671	40.4	$46,776	15.5	3.9	1.5	1.1	6.0
98512 / Tumwater / WA / 8.2 mi.	4,139	9,639	42.9	$50,286	11.3	2.9	1.4	1.1	3.0
98506 / Olympia / WA / 3.2 mi.	3,254	7,443	43.7	$44,775	13.0	3.6	1.5	1.3	3.6
98513 / Olympia / WA / 5.6 mi.	2,794	8,741	32.0	$52,497	24.7	5.3	4.4	2.7	7.3
98584 / Skokomish / WA / 14.9 mi.	2,657	11,328	23.5	$38,543	16.2	6.0	1.5	4.7	1.4
98516 / Olympia / WA / 5.3 mi.	2,149	5,511	39.0	$51,348	23.7	5.2	4.1	1.3	9.2
98589 / Tenino / WA / 11.4 mi.	712	2,417	29.5	$46,111	8.7	3.3	0.5	1.2	1.3
98597 / Yelm / WA / 16.1 mi.	690	5,269	13.1	$41,015	12.6	4.4	1.2	1.5	1.8
98579 / Rochester / WA / 15.7 mi.	559	3,454	16.2	$41,961	13.1	6.6	0.9	1.6	0.9
98541 / Whites / WA / 23.7 mi.	449	3,448	13.0	$35,423	10.3	3.6	0.4	1.4	1.2
98531 / Waunch Prairie / WA / 20.4 mi.	415	8,594	4.8	$32,485	13.4	9.0	0.3	1.1	1.2
98576 / Vail / WA / 13 mi.	264	1,212	21.8	$42,420	8.3	2.8	0.5	0.9	0.8
98557 / McCleary / WA / 17.6 mi.	214	1,069	20.0	$34,293	6.4	2.0	0.2	0.6	0.4
98548 / Hoodsport / WA / 27.1 mi.	209	871	24.0	$38,095	7.5	1.5	0.3	2.6	0.7
98532 / Newaukum / WA / 26.4 mi.	163	7,503	2.2	$39,614	8.9	4.8	0.7	1.0	1.0
98568 / Oakville / WA / 20.5 mi.	125	798	15.7	$35,726	26.7	5.2	0.4	16.8	0.5
98520 / Wishkah / WA / 40.4 mi.	93	8,578	1.1	$33,169	15.2	7.4	0.4	2.8	1.9
98563 / South Montesano / WA / 32.2 mi.	88	2,912	3.0	$41,743	6.2	1.8	0.1	1.6	0.9
98546 / Grapeview / WA / 19.2 mi.	78	951	8.2	$39,331	7.9	2.1	1.0	1.3	0.7
98592 / Union / WA / 22.1 mi.	64	591	10.8	$39,167	7.4	2.0	0.2	2.3	0.9
98555 / Lilliwaup / WA / 36.2 mi.	50	238	21.0	$40,000	6.1	1.5	0.0	0.8	1.5
98530 / Bucoda / WA / 15 mi.	20	190	10.5	$33,571	7.8	2.0	0.2	0.9	1.6
98550 / Woodlawn / WA / 45.1 mi.	17	4,607	0.4	$32,104	12.2	4.9	0.3	3.5	1.1
98560 / Matlock / WA / 29 mi.	12	59	20.3	$33,250	8.4	0.0	0.0	1.9	0.0
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