In this Reuters Institute factsheet we analyse the percentage of non-white top editors in a strategic sample of 100 major online and offline news outlets in five different markets across four continents: Brazil, Germany, South Africa, the United Kingdom (UK), and the United States (US).

Looking at a sample of ten top online news outlets and ten top offline news outlets in each of these markets, we find:

• Overall, 15% of the 80 top editors across the 100 brands covered are non-white, despite the fact that, on average, 42% of the general population across all five countries are nonwhite. If we set aside South Africa and look at the four other countries covered, 5% of the top editors are non-white, compared to, on average, 30% of the general population. There has been no significant overall increase in the number of non-white top editors over the last year across the markets covered.

• In Brazil, Germany, and the UK, none of the outlets in our sample have a non-white top editor. In the US, there are three non-white top editors in our sample (18%) and in South Africa a majority (60%) are non-white.

• In every single country covered, even South Africa, which far outperforms the other four in terms of the racial diversity of top editors, the percentage of non-white people in the general population is much higher than it is among top editors.

• In the four countries where data are available on the number of non-white journalists, there is no simple relationship between the percentage of non-white journalists and the percentage of nonwhite top editors. In Brazil and the UK, there are fewer non-white top editors than there are nonwhite journalists. In South Africa and the US, there are more non-white top editors than nonwhite journalists.

• The share of internet news users who say that they read news from at least one major outlet with a non-white top editor ranges from 0% in Brazil, Germany, and the UK to 86% in South Africa.