Prepare yourselves.

While other states are dealing with shrinking populations, Florida is set to overtake New York as the third most-populated state by the time the next census is conducted, said Bobbi Bowman of the American Society of Newspaper Editors.

The United States, as a whole, has grown in population between 2000 and 2005 by 5 percent, while Florida has more than doubled that rate and grown by 11 percent.

Bowman said the impact of such growth will be felt in all aspects of the newsroom, from sports to entertainment (not to mention circulation), and must be contextualized for the public to understand.

ASNE.org Bobbi Bowman

"We need to tell our readers about the opportunities to their pocketbooks, to their communities, to their children, as the population changes," she said. "We need to explain to people how the world is changing and why this literally is the best time of our lives."

Demographics are more than numbers, said Bowman during her seminar Saturday afternoon, titled "Covering the new Florida: Story ideas in an increasingly diverse community."

"It's about power, and it is about people," she said.

For example, supermarkets are a great way to tell what's going on in a community:

• More tortilla choices are appearing in the aisles
• Tiny watermelons have been genetically engineered to appeal to single customers

FURTHER READING

Want to see more of Bobbi Bowman's work? • Maynard Institute columns • APME NewsTrain contribution • ASNE Diversity page

Signs in Fort Lauderdale Airport, even, are the largest Bowman has seen in any airport.

Most of the growth to the state, at the moment, is from migrating retirees, Bowman said. We should:

• Expect a point in time when birth and death rates even out, or perhaps when there are more people dying than are being born.
• Expect school systems to not grow at the same rate as the population.
  

However, Bowman said the biggest event will occur in fewer than 25 years, when Florida's nonwhite population becomes the majority, joining California, Texas and Hawaii.

The future is already represented in today's public schools, where nonwhite students are already a majority in Florida.

Keep an eye on those education demographics, Bowman said. Education determines income, which eventually determines property taxes, which pay for services, which determines whether or not businesses move into a community.

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