Causewave Community Partners releases Shaping Our Stories Report for 2020

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — It’s been a complicated couple of years when it comes to race and how it affects the stories we tell, and Tuesday News10NBC got the results from a study that tells us how you feel about the stories you see and read every day.

Non-profit community group Causewave Community Partners released its Shaping Our Stories Report for 2020.

It surveyed more than 700 local viewers and 48 local journalists.

A big trend since 2018, which is when the last report was done, is that white viewers are more aligned with the beliefs held by people of color.

However, some big gaps still exist when it comes to stories about police and general trust in reporting.

That disparity was especially large in coverage of Daniel Prude’s death.

"If we don’t talk about these issues, we can’t improve," said Causewave President and CEO Todd Butler. "Really, our focus was trying to find ways to continue this conversation so that we can do a better job telling the stories of our entire community so we can understand each other better and work together to solve problems."

When it comes to the answers from journalists, there is concern about the negative image stories present for people of color.

A full breakdown of the Causewave survey is below (mobiles users, click here):

Causewave Community Partners Final for Public Release by News10NBC on Scribd