Race & Media Positive Story Campaign

In 2023, Causewave Community Partners commissioned the Shaping Our Stories study to determine how local news media represents and perceives race in their coverage. Through in-depth surveys, the study demonstrated a strong and growing perception by people of all races that local media can and should increase its positive news coverage of communities of color. In response, Causewave launched the Race & Media Positive Story Campaign, selecting LáLew Public Relations to spearhead it. 

Addressing the Shaping Our Stories survey findings, LáLew found 10 positive multicultural stories through a process of speaking with diverse community leaders and pitching to journalists. For 10 months, LáLew pitched and packaged one story per month, beginning in March 2023. 

Our campaign exceeded the goal of multiple media placements for each story, yielding an immediate increase in positive stories from the Black and brown communities in local news media. The campaign yielded a total of 50 media placements that resulted in over 22 million impressions and reached an estimated 20,513 users on X. 

Causewave honored our work on this campaign with their esteemed Spark Award for igniting change, and the Rochester Business Journal (RBJ) approached LáLew with a partnership opportunity to author a monthly feature about Black and brown-owned businesses and nonprofits, affording a secured placement in the RBJ each month.