We measure how the world's news covered people being harmed — and the help and hope within it.
206 of its 278 stories (74%) were about people being harmed, usually 59%. Herat accounted for 56 of Afghanistan's 206 stories about harm, carried by 74 outlets. Reports of abductions ran at about 4 times the usual rate (6 stories). Flooding was named in 11 of its stories about harm, about 6 times usual. Its coverage was about three times as angry as the world's.
124 of its 207 stories (60%) were about people being harmed, usually 47%. Tehran accounted for 82 of Iran's 124 stories about harm, carried by 127 outlets. Reports of people killed ran at about twice the usual rate (91 stories). Its coverage was about three times as angry as the world's.
66 of its 104 stories (63%) were about people being harmed, usually 43%. Bangkok accounted for 46 of Thailand's 66 stories about harm, carried by 55 outlets. Reports of arrests ran at about three times the usual rate (10 stories).
26 of Berlin's 40 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of arrests ran at about 7 times the usual rate (11 stories). Anger in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.
121 of its 167 stories (72%) were about people being harmed, usually 38%. Reports of evacuations ran at about 6 times the usual rate (32 stories). Wildfires were named in 94 of its stories about harm, about 8 times usual, with storms and heatwave.
56 of its 102 stories (55%) were about people being harmed, usually 40%. Beirut accounted for 47 of Lebanon's 56 stories about harm, carried by 77 outlets. Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's.
45 of its 75 stories (60%) were about people being harmed, usually 47%. Jakarta accounted for 28 of Indonesia's 45 stories about harm, carried by 204 outlets. Reports of arrests ran at about 4 times the usual rate (6 stories).
15 of its 33 stories (45%) were about people being harmed, usually 28%. Reports of people killed ran at about twice the usual rate (9 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's.
41 of its 124 stories (33%) were about people being harmed, usually 26%. Reports of evacuations ran at more than ten times the usual rate (16 stories). Wildfires were named in 14 of its stories about harm, about 8 times usual, with heatwave.
Aung Hlaing accounted for 21 of Myanmar's 35 stories about harm, carried by 32 outlets. 20 of Aung Hlaing's 21 stories were about protests or strikes. Landslides were named in 10 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual.
Also named far more than usual: wildfires in Türkiye (94 of its stories, about 8 times its usual); wildfires in Greece (14 of its stories, about 8 times its usual); landslides in Myanmar (10 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); chickenpox in US (48 of its stories, about 6 times its usual).
Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 1 Aug. 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 8,983 stories about harm among 35,989 counted on 1 Aug.
25 in every 100 of the day's 35,989 news stories were about people being harmed, above the usual 24. A year earlier, on 1 August 2020, 31 in every 100 stories were about people being harmed, against 25 today. This week the news turned most often to Afghanistan, on 4 of 7 days. Over July, 24 in every 100 stories were about people being harmed, against 30 in July 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 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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