We measure how the world's news covered people being harmed — and the help and hope within it.
64 of its 68 stories (94%) were about people being harmed, usually 61%. Obock accounted for 52 of Djibouti's 64 stories about harm, carried by 49 outlets. Reports of refugees ran at about 5 times the usual rate (8 stories). Hunger was named in 23 of its stories about harm, about 4 times usual. Fear in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.
47 of its 74 stories (64%) were about people being harmed, usually 35%. 34 of Douala's 36 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of arrests ran at about three times the usual rate (33 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.
57 of its 69 stories (83%) were about people being harmed, usually 24%. San Salvador accounted for 54 of el Salvador's 57 stories about harm, carried by 54 outlets. Reports of people killed ran at about 5 times the usual rate (55 stories).
131 of its 143 stories (92%) were about people being harmed, usually 69%. Mogadishu accounted for 99 of Somalia's 131 stories about harm, carried by 103 outlets. Its coverage was about three times as grief-stricken as the world's.
Khartoum accounted for 67 of Sudan's 115 stories about harm, carried by 52 outlets. 59 of Khartoum's 67 stories were about protests or strikes. Flooding was named in 12 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual. Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.
95 of its 176 stories (54%) were about people being harmed, usually 42%. Reports of people falling ill ran at more than ten times the usual rate (36 stories). Hurricane was named in 34 of its stories about harm, about 6 times usual.
455 of its 654 stories (70%) were about people being harmed, usually 60%. Kabul accounted for 307 of Afghanistan's 455 stories about harm, carried by 288 outlets. Its coverage was about one and a half times as warm as the world's. Fear in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.
178 of its 410 stories (43%) were about people being harmed, usually 36%. 81 of Dhaka's 109 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of people injured ran at about three times the usual rate (81 stories).
108 of its 255 stories (42%) were about people being harmed, usually 36%. Reports of people killed ran at about twice the usual rate (85 stories). Its coverage was about three times as grief-stricken as the world's.
Reports of arrests ran at about 4 times the usual rate (15 stories). Poisoning was named in 13 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual. Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's.
Also named far more than usual: drought in Greenland (28 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); hurricane in Cuba (34 of its stories, about 6 times its usual); poisoning in Chile (13 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); hunger in Libya (12 of its stories, about 10 times its usual); heavy rain in Australia (80 of its stories, about three times its usual).
Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 31 Jan. 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 38,955 stories about harm among 206,782 counted on 31 Jan.
Greenland's news mentioned the drought more than ten times as often as usual. 19 in every 100 of the day's 206,782 news stories were about people being harmed, as usual. For the second day running, the news turned to Djibouti. Djibouti stood out: 94% of its news was about people being harmed, usually 61%. A year earlier, on 31 January 2018, 20 in every 100 stories were about people being harmed, against 19 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 much softer than 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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