We measure how the world's news covered people being harmed — and the help and hope within it.
229 of its 515 stories (44%) were about people being harmed, usually 29%. Reports of evacuations ran at more than ten times the usual rate (34 stories). Flooding was named in 96 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual, with heavy rain, landslides and power cuts. Grief in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.
47 of its 65 stories (72%) were about people being harmed, usually 55%. Mogadishu accounted for 34 of Somalia's 47 stories about harm, carried by 96 outlets. Reports of people injured ran at about 7 times the usual rate (33 stories). Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's.
38 of its 58 stories (66%) were about people being harmed, usually 51%. 9 of Oromo's 12 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of arrests ran at about twice the usual rate (12 stories). Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.
72 of its 120 stories (60%) were about people being harmed, usually 41%. Reports of arrests ran at about 6 times the usual rate (15 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's.
21 of its 42 stories (50%) were about people being harmed, usually 29%. Copenhagen accounted for 19 of Denmark's 21 stories about harm, carried by 16 outlets. 15 of Copenhagen's 19 stories were about protests or strikes.
Reports of people killed ran at about three times the usual rate (22 stories). HIV was named in 15 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual. Grief in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.
37 of its 54 stories (69%) were about people being harmed, usually 49%. Reports of people injured ran at about 4 times the usual rate (6 stories).
19 of its 36 stories (53%) were about people being harmed, usually 29%. Hurricane was named in 13 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual, with tropical storm.
20 of its 25 stories (80%) were about people being harmed, usually 52%. Kigali accounted for 17 of Rwanda's 20 stories about harm, carried by 93 outlets.
16 of its 34 stories (47%) were about people being harmed, usually 26%. 4 of Lilongwe's 8 stories were about protests or strikes.
Also named far more than usual: hurricane in Bermuda (13 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); hiv in Switzerland (15 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); respiratory illness in China (45 of its stories, about 4 times its usual); wildfires in US (146 of its stories, about three times its usual); plague in UK (14 of its stories, about three times its usual).
Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 4 Jul. 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 17,034 stories about harm among 53,158 counted on 4 Jul.
Mentions of flooding ran more than ten times their usual in Japan's news. of the day's 53,158 news stories, 32 in every 100 were about people being harmed, as usual. A year earlier, on 5 July 2019, 21 in every 100 stories were about people being harmed, against 32 today. Japan's news was 44% about people being harmed, against a usual 29%.
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 harsher 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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