We measure how the world's news covered people being harmed — and the help and hope within it.
89 of its 174 stories (51%) were about people being harmed, usually 33%. Valletta accounted for 66 of Malta's 89 stories about harm, carried by 250 outlets. 56 of Valletta's 66 stories were about protests or strikes. Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's. Anger in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.
128 of its 169 stories (76%) were about people being harmed, usually 61%. Idlib accounted for 71 of Syria's 128 stories about harm, carried by 138 outlets. Reports of people injured ran at about twice the usual rate (49 stories). Its coverage was about three times as angry as the world's.
46 of its 84 stories (55%) were about people being harmed, usually 22%. Reports of people injured ran at about 9 times the usual rate (33 stories). Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's.
50 of its 140 stories (36%) were about people being harmed, usually 18%. Reports of people injured ran at about 5 times the usual rate (25 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's.
Baghdad accounted for 76 of Iraq's 124 stories about harm, carried by 104 outlets. 67 of Baghdad's 76 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of arrests ran at about twice the usual rate (13 stories). Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.
20 of its 42 stories (48%) were about people being harmed, usually 19%. Reports of people injured ran at more than ten times the usual rate (17 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's.
205 of its 478 stories (43%) were about people being harmed, usually 33%. Reports of arrests ran at about three times the usual rate (65 stories). Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's.
62 of its 71 stories (87%) were about people being harmed, usually 72%. Hantoukoura accounted for 48 of Burkina Faso's 62 stories about harm, carried by 175 outlets. Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.
58 of its 212 stories (27%) were about people being harmed, usually 17%. Reports of people killed ran at about twice the usual rate (34 stories). Fear in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.
173 of its 823 stories (21%) were about people being harmed, usually 13%. Reports of people displaced ran at more than ten times the usual rate (28 stories). Wildfires were named in 36 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual, with cyclone, hurricane and drought.
Also named far more than usual: typhoon in Philippines (99 of its stories, about 6 times its usual); landslides in Sri Lanka (20 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); wildfires in Spain (36 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); helicopter crash in France (36 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); snowstorms in US (407 of its stories, about 5 times its usual).
Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 2 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 18,889 stories about harm among 106,286 counted on 2 Dec.
On the side of help, reports of people freed or reunited ran at about one and a half times the usual rate. Stories about people being harmed made up 18 in every 100 of the day's 106,286 stories, as usual. Malta's news was 51% about people being harmed, against a usual 33%. A year earlier, on 2 December 2018, 19 in every 100 stories were about people being harmed, against 18 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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