We measure how the world's news covered people being harmed — and the help and hope within it.
388 of its 698 stories (56%) were about people being harmed, usually 32%. Lagos accounted for 188 of Nigeria's 388 stories about harm, carried by 142 outlets. 179 of Lagos' 188 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of people killed ran at about twice the usual rate (140 stories). Illness was named in 163 of its stories about harm, about three times usual. Its coverage was about three times as angry as the world's.
67 of its 159 stories (42%) were about people being harmed, usually 28%. Seoul accounted for 45 of South Korea's 67 stories about harm, carried by 91 outlets. Reports of people killed ran at about twice the usual rate (40 stories). Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's.
42 of its 86 stories (49%) were about people being harmed, usually 32%. Fear in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.
34 of its 43 stories (79%) were about people being harmed, usually 60%. Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.
54 of its 83 stories (65%) were about people being harmed, usually 27%. Warsaw accounted for 40 of Poland's 54 stories about harm, carried by 48 outlets. 26 of Warsaw's 40 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of arrests ran at more than ten times the usual rate (19 stories).
141 of its 398 stories (35%) were about people being harmed, usually 26%. Reports of people affected ran at about twice the usual rate (17 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.
35 of its 77 stories (45%) were about people being harmed, usually 35%. Bangkok accounted for 25 of Thailand's 35 stories about harm, carried by 27 outlets. 18 of Bangkok's 25 stories were about protests or strikes.
10 of its 16 stories (62%) were about people being harmed, usually 37%. 4 of Phnom Penh's 6 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of people affected ran at about twice the usual rate (5 stories).
75 of its 127 stories (59%) were about people being harmed, usually 47%. Reports of refugees ran at about 5 times the usual rate (20 stories).
59 of its 139 stories (42%) were about people being harmed, usually 32%. Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.
Also named far more than usual: train derailment in US (28 of its stories, about 4 times its usual).
Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 23 Oct. 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 11,277 stories about harm among 41,571 counted on 23 Oct.
It was the second day running that the news turned to Nigeria. of the day's 41,571 news stories, 27 in every 100 were about people being harmed, as usual. the US's news mentioned train derailment about 4 times as often as usual. A year earlier, on 24 October 2019, 16 in every 100 stories were about people being harmed, against 27 today. In Nigeria, 56% of the news was about people being harmed, where 32% is usual.
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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