Shaping Our Stories
Background
The Greater Rochester Community has been struggling with conversations around racial disparities for generations. In recent years, the city of Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony has begun to look more directly in the mirror as it confronts issues around race, racial disparity and equity in our community.
Attitudes towards race are formed on the basis of direct (personal interactions) and indirect (word of mouth and media communicated) experiences. A community as segregated as Rochester provides a structural barrier to these direct experiences, and increases the importance and potential impact of media experiences related to race. The argument can be made that here, media representations are even more important than they might otherwise be in shaping how we see our community and those who share it with us.
In late 2015, Causewave Community Partners decided to attempt to make a unique contribution to the issue of racial equality in our community. Given our experiences and connections in the media community, and the well-documented impact of media representations on the racial perceptions of white and non-white groups, we decided to study how race is represented and perceived in local news media.
Shaping our Stories is the result of nearly three years of planning and analysis. It is presented with the intention of increasing the understanding of perceptions of how race is represented in local news media. This report can be used by both community members and news professionals to understand each other’s perceptions and how they differ.
By studying this complex issue and sharing our results, we hope to spark a productive and collaborative dialog and process for positive change in our community.
2018 Study
The 2018 Shaping our Stories report can be found here. For a video presentation of the report, click here
Shaping Positive News
OUR PROCESS FOR POSITIVE CHANGE IN NEWS MEDIA
Shaping Our Stories study commissioned by Causewave Community Partners found that majority of news consumers believe that stories about minority groups are primarily negative in news media.
To address some of the findings from the Shaping Our Stories study, specifically how race is represented and perceived in local news media, Causewave developed a set of recommendations for future actions including partnering with nonprofits, for-profit businesses and other groups serving Rochester’s minority communities.
Between 2019 and 2020, Causewave collaborated with the Public Relations Society of America Rochester chapter (PRSA) and Rochester Association of Black Journalists (RABJ) to pair public relations coaches with 10 local organizations. Those organizations included 540WMain, Action for a Better Community, The Avenue Blackbox Theatre, Dimitri House, Fondation Heberande, Memorial AME Zion Church, Mentors Inspiring Boys and Girls, Puerto Rican Festival of Rochester, Youth for Christ, and Zoc’s Gourmet. Through multiple workshops, events, and hand-on training, organizational leaders were equipped with resources and knowledge to shape and package their very own positive stories in an effort to earn media opportunities with local news stations.
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