We measure how the world's news covered people being harmed — and the help and hope within it.
86 of its 162 stories (53%) were about people being harmed, usually 32%. Beirut accounted for 72 of Lebanon's 86 stories about harm, carried by 499 outlets. 69 of Beirut's 72 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of people injured ran at about 4 times the usual rate (39 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as warm as the world's.
408 of its 1,394 stories (29%) were about people being harmed, usually 16%. Reports of people falling ill ran at about 8 times the usual rate (34 stories). Outbreaks were named in 238 of its stories about harm, about three times usual, with covid, ebola and tuberculosis. Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's. Grief in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.
76 of its 87 stories (87%) were about people being harmed, usually 75%. Mogadishu accounted for 63 of Somalia's 76 stories about harm, carried by 101 outlets. Hunger was named in 20 of its stories about harm, about 5 times usual. Its coverage was about three times as grief-stricken as the world's.
73 of its 130 stories (56%) were about people being harmed, usually 27%. Reports of people affected ran at about 9 times the usual rate (42 stories). Avalanche was named in 38 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual, with snowstorms and respiratory illness.
93 of its 198 stories (47%) were about people being harmed, usually 40%. Tripoli accounted for 87 of Libya's 93 stories about harm, carried by 237 outlets. Cholera was named in 10 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.
19 of its 35 stories (54%) were about people being harmed, usually 26%. Reports of people affected ran at about three times the usual rate (8 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's.
24 of its 90 stories (27%) were about people being harmed, usually 11%. Reports of people injured ran at about three times the usual rate (5 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's.
30 of its 140 stories (21%) were about people being harmed, usually 10%. Reports of people affected ran at about 7 times the usual rate (11 stories). Avalanche was named in 10 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual.
18 of its 34 stories (53%) were about people being harmed, usually 34%. 4 of Lilongwe's 5 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of people affected ran at about three times the usual rate (5 stories).
9 of its 22 stories (41%) were about people being harmed, usually 17%. Reports of people injured ran at about 5 times the usual rate (5 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's.
Also named far more than usual: wildfires in Switzerland (15 of its stories, about 10 times its usual); earthquake in Indonesia (18 of its stories, about 4 times its usual); flooding in Australia (85 of its stories, about 6 times its usual); snowstorms in Canada (73 of its stories, about 4 times its usual); avalanche in South Korea (10 of its stories, more than ten times its usual).
Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 18 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 13,156 stories about harm among 64,783 counted on 18 Jan.
Reports of people falling ill ran at about three times the usual rate, most often about China and the US. of the day's 64,783 news stories, 20 in every 100 were about people being harmed, as usual. China's news mentioned outbreaks about three times as often as usual. Lebanon's news was 53% about people being harmed, against a usual 32%. A year earlier, on 18 January 2019, 18 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 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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