We measure how the world's news covered people being harmed — and the help and hope within it.
978 of its 1,678 stories (58%) were about people being harmed, usually 21%. Reports of people injured ran at more than ten times the usual rate (726 stories). Road crashes were named in 16 of its stories about harm, about 8 times usual. Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's.
515 of its 667 stories (77%) were about people being harmed, usually 56%. 74 of Baghdad's 120 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of evacuations ran at more than ten times the usual rate (24 stories). Its coverage was about three times as grief-stricken as the world's.
267 of its 581 stories (46%) were about people being harmed, usually 34%. Tehran accounted for 194 of Iran's 267 stories about harm, carried by 145 outlets. Flooding was named in 21 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual. Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.
135 of its 167 stories (81%) were about people being harmed, usually 58%. Yangon accounted for 94 of Myanmar's 135 stories about harm, carried by 85 outlets. Reports of arrests ran at about 5 times the usual rate (82 stories).
35 of its 50 stories (70%) were about people being harmed, usually 49%. 29 of Skopje's 29 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of people injured ran at about twice the usual rate (33 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as warm as the world's.
86 of its 104 stories (83%) were about people being harmed, usually 70%. Reports of people displaced ran at about 7 times the usual rate (49 stories). Cholera was named in 17 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual, with outbreaks. Its coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's.
Riyadh accounted for 298 of Saudi Arabia's 348 stories about harm, carried by 209 outlets. Reports of people injured ran at about twice the usual rate (26 stories). Volcanic eruption was named in 34 of its stories about harm, about 4 times usual. Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.
45 of its 80 stories (56%) were about people being harmed, usually 21%. Dakar accounted for 42 of Senegal's 45 stories about harm, carried by 44 outlets. Reports of people displaced ran at more than ten times the usual rate (23 stories).
183 of its 558 stories (33%) were about people being harmed, usually 21%. Reports of people affected ran at about 9 times the usual rate (95 stories). Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.
175 of its 216 stories (81%) were about people being harmed, usually 74%. Mogadishu accounted for 132 of Somalia's 175 stories about harm, carried by 133 outlets. Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.
Also named far more than usual: hurricane in Switzerland (26 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); extreme cold in Greece (40 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); accidents in Albania (14 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); earthquake in Japan (26 of its stories, about three times its usual); cholera in Congo (17 of its stories, more than ten times its usual).
Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 20 Dec. The big dot is this day; the shaded band is a normal day (the 30 days before it). Click a day to open it. Based on 38,885 stories about harm among 197,627 counted on 20 Dec.
Mentions of the hurricane ran more than ten times their usual in Switzerland's news. of the day's 197,627 news stories, 20 in every 100 were about people being harmed, as usual. Mexico stood out: 58% of its news was about people being harmed, usually 21%. A year earlier, on 20 December 2016, 23 in every 100 stories were about people being harmed, against 20 today.
Written by code from the day's numbers.
Countries with at least 50 stories that day.
Stories, not people.
The day's biggest events: attacks, accidents and disasters, people displaced, protests, outbreaks. Bigger dot: more stories. Ranked by the share of the day's outlets that reported it and how clearly it was about one thing, the same way for every place and year; the news data does not say who attacked whom, so both sides of a war appear where the news put them. Click a dot for its stories.
Of the stories about people being harmed, what part of life each was about. The mark is usual.
Stories that report it, not people: we count what reporters wrote, not what happened.
The words in the day's stories were about as usual. Filled dot: today. Ring: usual.
From the words reporters used across the whole day, never one story. Fear is the weakest of the four measures. How?
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