We measure how the world's news covered people being harmed — and the help and hope within it.
39 of its 47 stories (83%) were about people being harmed, usually 39%. Reports of abductions ran at more than ten times the usual rate (10 stories). Covid was named in 28 of its stories about harm, about 4 times usual. Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.
38 of its 51 stories (75%) were about people being harmed, usually 42%. Tunis accounted for 24 of Tunisia's 38 stories about harm, carried by 35 outlets. Reports of people affected ran at about 4 times the usual rate (19 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's.
19 of its 21 stories (90%) were about people being harmed, usually 55%. Bangui accounted for 17 of the Central African Republic's 19 stories about harm, carried by 27 outlets. Its coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's.
13 of its 33 stories (39%) were about people being harmed, usually 22%. Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's. Anger in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.
87 of its 147 stories (59%) were about people being harmed, usually 40%. Reports of abductions ran at about 6 times the usual rate (7 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's.
79 of its 158 stories (50%) were about people being harmed, usually 33%. Seoul accounted for 67 of South Korea's 79 stories about harm, carried by 213 outlets. Reports of people killed ran at about twice the usual rate (40 stories).
159 of its 291 stories (55%) were about people being harmed, usually 42%. Reports of people displaced ran at about three times the usual rate (5 stories). Tsunami was named in 19 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual.
31 of its 107 stories (29%) were about people being harmed, usually 18%. Reports of people affected ran at about three times the usual rate (5 stories). Grief in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.
63 of its 87 stories (72%) were about people being harmed, usually 61%. Reports of people injured ran at about twice the usual rate (9 stories). Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's. Grief in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.
Reports of evacuations ran at more than ten times the usual rate (24 stories). Hypothermia was named in 14 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual. Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.
Also named far more than usual: illness in Yemen (11 of its stories, about three times its usual); tsunami in Philippines (19 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); storm surge in Ireland (11 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); hypothermia in UK (14 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); extreme cold in US (34 of its stories, about 4 times its usual).
Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 25 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 11,316 stories about harm among 40,453 counted on 25 Dec.
Help and hope: reports of people freed or reunited ran at about twice the usual rate. of the day's 40,453 news stories, 28 in every 100 were about people being harmed, above the usual 26. Mali stood out: 83% of its news was about people being harmed, usually 39%. Mentions of Covid ran about 4 times their usual in Mali's news. A year earlier, on 26 December 2019, 19 in every 100 stories were about people being harmed, against 28 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 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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