We measure how the world's news covered people being harmed — and the help and hope within it.
167 of its 275 stories (61%) were about people being harmed, usually 47%. Bhasan Char accounted for 107 of Bangladesh's 167 stories about harm, carried by 271 outlets. Reports of refugees ran at about 8 times the usual rate (74 stories). Cyclone was named in 35 of its stories about harm, about 10 times usual, with landslides.
Colombo accounted for 54 of Sri Lanka's 80 stories about harm, carried by 21 outlets. Reports of people injured ran at about twice the usual rate (23 stories). Cyclone was named in 11 of its stories about harm, about 5 times usual. Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's.
51 of its 83 stories (61%) were about people being harmed, usually 40%. Reports of people killed ran at about three times the usual rate (16 stories). Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.
13 of its 23 stories (57%) were about people being harmed, usually 32%. 5 of Algiers' 10 stories were about protests or strikes.
Tigray accounted for 62 of Ethiopia's 85 stories about harm, carried by 133 outlets. Reports of people injured ran at about twice the usual rate (8 stories). Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.
45 of its 87 stories (52%) were about people being harmed, usually 38%. Beirut accounted for 35 of Lebanon's 45 stories about harm, carried by 56 outlets.
49 of its 209 stories (23%) were about people being harmed, usually 14%. Reports of people injured ran at about 6 times the usual rate (5 stories).
35 of its 61 stories (57%) were about people being harmed, usually 44%. Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's.
26 of its 41 stories (63%) were about people being harmed, usually 48%. Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.
12 of its 15 stories (80%) were about people being harmed, usually 56%. Earthquake was named in 11 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual.
Also named far more than usual: earthquake in Nicaragua (11 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); outbreaks in Vietnam (13 of its stories, about 4 times its usual); illness in Afghanistan (11 of its stories, about 5 times its usual); road crashes in Ireland (16 of its stories, about 6 times its usual); house fires in Australia (11 of its stories, about 6 times its usual).
Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 4 Dec. 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 24,352 stories about harm among 96,401 counted on 4 Dec.
Mentions of the earthquake ran more than ten times their usual in Nicaragua's news. of the day's 96,401 news stories, 25 in every 100 were about people being harmed, as usual. Reports of vaccination, a sign of help, ran at about one and a half times the usual rate. It was the second day running that the news turned to Bangladesh. On 5 December 2019, a year earlier, the share was 17 in every 100, against 25 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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