We measure how the world's news covered people being harmed — and the help and hope within it.
174 of its 351 stories (50%) were about people being harmed, usually 34%. Lesbos accounted for 85 of Greece's 174 stories about harm, carried by 131 outlets. Reports of arrests ran at about 5 times the usual rate (28 stories). Hurricane was named in 18 of its stories about harm, about 4 times usual, with tropical storm and cyclone.
153 of its 268 stories (57%) were about people being harmed, usually 37%. Tehran accounted for 83 of Iran's 153 stories about harm, carried by 101 outlets. Its coverage was about three times as angry as the world's.
27 of its 40 stories (68%) were about people being harmed, usually 40%. Abidjan accounted for 21 of Côte d’Ivoire's 27 stories about harm, carried by 23 outlets. 15 of Abidjan's 21 stories were about protests or strikes.
20 of its 41 stories (49%) were about people being harmed, usually 28%. Reports of arrests 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.
34 of its 108 stories (31%) were about people being harmed, usually 23%. Reports of people killed ran at about twice the usual rate (17 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.
48 of its 90 stories (53%) were about people being harmed, usually 45%. Drownings were named in 16 of its stories about harm, about 10 times usual. Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's.
Minsk accounted for 44 of Belarus' 67 stories about harm, carried by 41 outlets. 29 of Minsk's 44 stories were about protests or strikes. Its coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's.
20 of its 21 stories (95%) were about people being harmed, usually 50%. Reports of arrests ran at about three times the usual rate (5 stories).
28 of its 36 stories (78%) were about people being harmed, usually 57%. Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.
22 of its 64 stories (34%) were about people being harmed, usually 24%. Reports of people killed ran at about three times the usual rate (12 stories).
Also named far more than usual: covid in Sudan (22 of its stories, about three times its usual); drownings in Libya (16 of its stories, about 10 times its usual); covid in Sri Lanka (11 of its stories, about three times its usual); flu in Qatar (11 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); drought in Brazil (13 of its stories, about 6 times its usual).
Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 15 Sep. 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 29,021 stories about harm among 107,029 counted on 15 Sep.
Of the day's 107,029 news stories, 27 in every 100 were about people being harmed, below the usual 28. A year earlier, on 16 September 2019, 20 in every 100 stories were about people being harmed, against 27 today.
Written by code from the day's numbers.
Countries with at least 50 stories that day.
Stories, not people.
Each country shaded by how much of its news was about people being harmed, against the world's 27 in 100 that day. Stronger colour: further above. A country with few stories is drawn closer to the world's. Click a country.
Stories, not people. Countries with at least 50 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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