We measure how the world's news covered people being harmed — and the help and hope within it.
154 of its 201 stories (77%) were about people being harmed, usually 51%. Mamuju accounted for 68 of Indonesia's 154 stories about harm, carried by 200 outlets. Reports of refugees ran at about 9 times the usual rate (5 stories). Earthquake was named in 117 of its stories about harm, about 5 times usual, with landslides, tsunami and volcanic eruption. Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's.
88 of its 131 stories (67%) were about people being harmed, usually 30%. Reports of people killed ran at about 5 times the usual rate (78 stories). Its coverage was about three times as grief-stricken as the world's.
84 of its 116 stories (72%) were about people being harmed, usually 60%. Kabul accounted for 37 of Afghanistan's 84 stories about harm, carried by 81 outlets. Its coverage was about three times as angry as the world's.
30 of its 51 stories (59%) were about people being harmed, usually 42%. Havana accounted for 20 of Cuba's 30 stories about harm, carried by 34 outlets. Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.
120 of its 227 stories (53%) were about people being harmed, usually 45%. Kampala accounted for 78 of Uganda's 120 stories about harm, carried by 348 outlets. Its coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's.
Reports of refugees ran at about twice the usual rate (6 stories). Snowstorms were named in 27 of its stories about harm, about three times usual, with drownings. Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.
1,431 of its 3,678 stories (39%) were about people being harmed, usually 27%. Polio was named in 49 of its stories about harm, about 4 times usual.
70 of its 141 stories (50%) were about people being harmed, usually 35%. Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.
24 of its 51 stories (47%) were about people being harmed, usually 28%. Brussels accounted for 22 of Belgium's 24 stories about harm, carried by 30 outlets.
11 of its 16 stories (69%) were about people being harmed, usually 32%. 6 of Port-au-Prince's 6 stories were about protests or strikes.
Also named far more than usual: polio in India (49 of its stories, about 4 times its usual); snowstorms in UK (27 of its stories, about three times its usual).
Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 16 Jan. 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 16,152 stories about harm among 55,677 counted on 16 Jan.
For the second day running, the news turned to Indonesia. Stories about people being harmed made up 29 in every 100 of the day's 55,677 stories, as usual. A year earlier, on 17 January 2020, 18 in every 100 stories were about people being harmed, against 29 today. In Indonesia, 77% of the news was about people being harmed, where 51% 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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