We measure how the world's news covered people being harmed — and the help and hope within it.
291 of its 566 stories (51%) were about people being harmed, usually 32%. Nairobi accounted for 118 of Kenya's 291 stories about harm, carried by 252 outlets. Reports of people killed ran at about twice the usual rate (200 stories). Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's.
24 of its 42 stories (57%) were about people being harmed, usually 25%. 10 of Algiers' 17 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of people injured ran at about three times the usual rate (7 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's.
77 of its 154 stories (50%) were about people being harmed, usually 20%. Taipei accounted for 46 of Taiwan's 77 stories about harm, carried by 28 outlets. Reports of evacuations ran at about 10 times the usual rate (7 stories).
233 of its 289 stories (81%) were about people being harmed, usually 66%. Idlib accounted for 176 of Syria's 233 stories about harm, carried by 214 outlets. Its coverage was about three times as angry as the world's.
4,308 of its 6,094 stories (71%) were about people being harmed, usually 51%. Wuhan accounted for 2,244 of China's 4,308 stories about harm, carried by 1,996 outlets. Typhoon was named in 25 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual.
70 of its 251 stories (28%) were about people being harmed, usually 17%. 18 of Lesbos' 23 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of refugees ran at about three times the usual rate (26 stories).
44 of its 202 stories (22%) were about people being harmed, usually 15%. Reports of people killed ran at about three times the usual rate (19 stories). Its coverage was about twice as fearful as the world's.
Baghdad accounted for 42 of Iraq's 92 stories about harm, carried by 119 outlets. 21 of Baghdad's 42 stories were about protests or strikes. Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's.
Tehran accounted for 109 of Iran's 183 stories about harm, carried by 263 outlets. Reports of arrests ran at about 5 times the usual rate (44 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's.
38 of its 52 stories (73%) were about people being harmed, usually 20%. Reports of people killed ran at about 4 times the usual rate (17 stories).
Also named far more than usual: flooding in New Zealand (38 of its stories, about 5 times its usual); drownings in Mexico (11 of its stories, about 7 times its usual); measles in Australia (13 of its stories, about 8 times its usual); flu in India (20 of its stories, about three times its usual); ebola in Canada (10 of its stories, about 4 times its usual).
Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 4 Feb. 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 24,956 stories about harm among 121,076 counted on 4 Feb.
New Zealand's news mentioned flooding about 5 times as often as usual. 21 in every 100 of the day's 121,076 news stories were about people being harmed, as usual. In Kenya, 51% of the news was about people being harmed, where 32% is usual. A year earlier, on 4 February 2019, 20 in every 100 stories were about people being harmed, against 21 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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