We measure how the world's news covered people being harmed — and the help and hope within it.
139 of its 843 stories (16%) were about people being harmed, usually 7%. Reports of evacuations ran at more than ten times the usual rate (12 stories). Landslides were named in 20 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual, with flooding. Grief in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.
120 of its 222 stories (54%) were about people being harmed, usually 46%. Reports of evacuations ran at about three times the usual rate (44 stories). Flooding was named in 72 of its stories about harm, about 8 times usual, with landslides and power cuts. Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's.
77 of its 120 stories (64%) were about people being harmed, usually 41%. Reports of people injured ran at about 4 times the usual rate (37 stories). Its coverage was about three times as fearful as the world's. Anger in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.
105 of its 258 stories (41%) were about people being harmed, usually 26%. Reports of refugees ran at about three times the usual rate (6 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's.
43 of its 55 stories (78%) were about people being harmed, usually 46%. Reports of arrests ran at about three times the usual rate (13 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's.
22 of its 42 stories (52%) were about people being harmed, usually 36%. 6 of Douala's 7 stories were about protests or strikes. Its coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's.
44 of its 66 stories (67%) were about people being harmed, usually 54%. Tigray accounted for 31 of Ethiopia's 44 stories about harm, carried by 77 outlets. Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.
37 of its 98 stories (38%) were about people being harmed, usually 27%. Reports of people injured ran at about 6 times the usual rate (9 stories). Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's. Anger in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.
Kabul accounted for 603 of Afghanistan's 824 stories about harm, carried by 859 outlets. Reports of evacuations ran at about 4 times the usual rate (99 stories). Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.
46 of its 81 stories (57%) were about people being harmed, usually 33%. Colombo accounted for 32 of Sri Lanka's 46 stories about harm, carried by 35 outlets.
Also named far more than usual: wildfires in Italy (33 of its stories, about 8 times its usual); covid in Belize (13 of its stories, about 5 times its usual); ebola in Guinea (10 of its stories, about three times its usual); flu in Ireland (15 of its stories, about 5 times its usual); tropical storm in US (145 of its stories, about 4 times its usual).
Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 13 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 15,812 stories about harm among 63,269 counted on 13 Aug.
Mentions of flooding ran about 8 times their usual in Türkiye's news. of the day's 63,269 news stories, 25 in every 100 were about people being harmed, above the usual 24. Japan stood out: 16% of its news was about people being harmed, usually 7%. A year earlier, on 13 August 2020, 28 in every 100 stories were about people being harmed, against 25 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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