We measure how the world's news covered people being harmed — and the help and hope within it.
327 of its 564 stories (58%) were about people being harmed, usually 32%. Yangon accounted for 134 of Myanmar's 327 stories about harm, carried by 215 outlets. 91 of Yangon's 134 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of refugees ran at about three times the usual rate (15 stories). Landslides were named in 39 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual.
58 of its 78 stories (74%) were about people being harmed, usually 42%. Reports of evacuations ran at about 6 times the usual rate (14 stories). Drownings were named in 12 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual. Grief in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.
88 of its 117 stories (75%) were about people being harmed, usually 54%. Mogadishu accounted for 71 of Somalia's 88 stories about harm, carried by 192 outlets. Reports of people injured ran at about 4 times the usual rate (52 stories). Its coverage was about 4 times as angry as the world's. Grief in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.
53 of its 83 stories (64%) were about people being harmed, usually 49%. Health Department accounted for 29 of Palestine's 53 stories about harm, carried by 48 outlets. Reports of people killed ran at about twice the usual rate (27 stories). Outbreaks were named in 20 of its stories about harm, about 5 times usual.
Moscow accounted for 243 of Russia's 356 stories about harm, carried by 390 outlets. 188 of Moscow's 243 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of arrests ran at about twice the usual rate (164 stories). Extreme cold was named in 15 of its stories about harm, about 5 times usual. Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.
68 of its 151 stories (45%) were about people being harmed, usually 30%. Reports of arrests ran at about 6 times the usual rate (22 stories). Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's.
67 of its 95 stories (71%) were about people being harmed, usually 57%. Reports of people injured ran at about twice the usual rate (28 stories). Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.
38 of its 83 stories (46%) were about people being harmed, usually 30%. Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's.
134 of its 390 stories (34%) were about people being harmed, usually 25%. Reports of people affected ran at about twice the usual rate (16 stories).
53 of its 132 stories (40%) were about people being harmed, usually 31%. Reports of arrests ran at about three times the usual rate (7 stories).
Also named far more than usual: earthquake in Greece (10 of its stories, about three times its usual); snowstorms in US (487 of its stories, about 7 times its usual); respiratory illness in UK (116 of its stories, about 7 times its usual); heavy rain in Ireland (13 of its stories, about 5 times its usual); extreme cold in Russia (15 of its stories, about 5 times its usual).
Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 1 Feb. 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 22,639 stories about harm among 89,180 counted on 1 Feb.
The share of stories about people being harmed was the lowest since 18 December 2020. 25 in every 100 of the day's 89,180 news stories were about people being harmed, below the usual 27. In Palestine's news, mentions of outbreaks ran about 5 times their usual. Myanmar stood out: 58% of its news was about people being harmed, usually 32%. A year earlier, on 2 February 2020, 23 in every 100 stories were about people being harmed, against 25 today. Over January, 27 in every 100 stories were about people being harmed, against 20 in January 2020.
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 much 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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