We measure how the world's news covered people being harmed — and the help and hope within it.
440 of its 1,068 stories (41%) were about people being harmed, usually 26%. Paris accounted for 329 of France's 440 stories about harm, carried by 580 outlets. Reports of people injured ran at more than ten times the usual rate (228 stories). Flooding was named in 52 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual. Its coverage was about three times as angry as the world's.
79 of its 105 stories (75%) were about people being harmed, usually 40%. Pyongyang accounted for 58 of North Korea's 79 stories about harm, carried by 86 outlets. Extreme cold was named in 14 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual. Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's.
79 of its 208 stories (38%) were about people being harmed, usually 28%. Reports of people injured ran at about 4 times the usual rate (33 stories). Plane crash was named in 12 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual. Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's.
Minsk accounted for 58 of Belarus' 85 stories about harm, carried by 103 outlets. 51 of Minsk's 58 stories were about protests or strikes. Its coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's. Grief in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.
100 of its 248 stories (40%) were about people being harmed, usually 31%. Reports of arrests ran at about 4 times the usual rate (43 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.
116 of its 166 stories (70%) were about people being harmed, usually 53%. Its coverage was about twice as fearful as the world's. Anger in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.
10 of its 15 stories (67%) were about people being harmed, usually 21%. Reports of people killed ran at about three times the usual rate (7 stories).
44 of its 106 stories (42%) were about people being harmed, usually 28%. Reports of people affected ran at about twice the usual rate (6 stories).
57 of its 135 stories (42%) were about people being harmed, usually 30%. Reports of arrests ran at about twice the usual rate (12 stories).
101 of its 203 stories (50%) were about people being harmed, usually 40%. Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.
Also named far more than usual: flu in Switzerland (12 of its stories, about 7 times its usual); plague in China (40 of its stories, about 4 times its usual); road crashes in Ireland (13 of its stories, about three times its usual); gas explosion in Nigeria (17 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); dengue in India (35 of its stories, about 6 times its usual).
Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 25 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 24,491 stories about harm among 93,777 counted on 25 Sep.
North Korea's news mentioned extreme cold more than ten times as often as usual. A year earlier, on 26 September 2019, 16 in every 100 stories were about people being harmed, against 26 today. In France, 41% of the news was about people being harmed, where 26% is usual. Stories about people being harmed made up 26 in every 100 of the day's 93,777 stories, below the usual 28.
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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