We measure how the world's news covered people being harmed — and the help and hope within it.
467 of its 1,074 stories (43%) were about people being harmed, usually 30%. Moscow accounted for 345 of Russia's 467 stories about harm, carried by 717 outlets. Reports of arrests ran at about 8 times the usual rate (138 stories). Poisoning was named in 235 of its stories about harm, about 4 times usual. Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.
75 of its 95 stories (79%) were about people being harmed, usually 51%. Darfur accounted for 65 of Sudan's 75 stories about harm, carried by 108 outlets. Reports of people injured ran at about 4 times the usual rate (48 stories). Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.
53 of its 76 stories (70%) were about people being harmed, usually 57%. Tunis accounted for 42 of Tunisia's 53 stories about harm, carried by 37 outlets. 32 of Tunis' 42 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of arrests ran at about 6 times the usual rate (36 stories).
149 of its 240 stories (62%) were about people being harmed, usually 54%. Reports of people displaced ran at about 7 times the usual rate (21 stories). Flooding was named in 33 of its stories about harm, about 5 times usual. Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's. Fear in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.
82 of its 151 stories (54%) were about people being harmed, usually 34%. Reports of people killed ran at about twice the usual rate (58 stories). Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's.
94 of its 131 stories (72%) were about people being harmed, usually 62%. Kabul accounted for 62 of Afghanistan's 94 stories about harm, carried by 58 outlets. Its coverage was about three times as angry as the world's.
10 of its 14 stories (71%) were about people being harmed, usually 39%. Reports of people killed ran at about three times the usual rate (7 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's.
72 of its 176 stories (41%) were about people being harmed, usually 32%. Reports of people injured ran at about three times the usual rate (6 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's.
50 of its 101 stories (50%) were about people being harmed, usually 40%. Reports of people affected ran at about twice the usual rate (7 stories). Its coverage was about twice as fearful as the world's.
11 of Amsterdam's 18 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of arrests ran at about 4 times the usual rate (7 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.
Also named far more than usual: extreme cold in Poland (10 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); cyclone in Australia (44 of its stories, about 5 times its usual); storms in New Zealand (10 of its stories, about 7 times its usual); heavy rain in UK (99 of its stories, about 4 times its usual); poisoning in China (10 of its stories, about three times its usual).
Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 18 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 20,883 stories about harm among 77,296 counted on 18 Jan.
It was the second day running that the news turned to Russia. of the day's 77,296 news stories, 27 in every 100 were about people being harmed, below the usual 28. A year earlier, on 19 January 2020, 20 in every 100 stories were about people being harmed, against 27 today. Russia's news was 43% about people being harmed, against a usual 30%.
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 harsher 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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