We measure how the world's news covered people being harmed — and the help and hope within it.
118 of its 179 stories (66%) were about people being harmed, usually 40%. Jerusalem accounted for 45 of Israel's 118 stories about harm, carried by 99 outlets. Reports of people injured ran at about 6 times the usual rate (34 stories). Wildfires were named in 31 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual.
94 of its 123 stories (76%) were about people being harmed, usually 61%. les Cayes accounted for 61 of Haiti's 94 stories about harm, carried by 262 outlets. Reports of people injured ran at about 6 times the usual rate (45 stories). Landslides were named in 24 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual.
24 of its 62 stories (39%) were about people being harmed, usually 17%. Reports of evacuations ran at more than ten times the usual rate (6 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as warm as the world's.
14 of its 28 stories (50%) were about people being harmed, usually 22%. Reports of people injured ran at about 5 times the usual rate (7 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's.
44 of its 78 stories (56%) were about people being harmed, usually 34%. Colombo accounted for 24 of Sri Lanka's 44 stories about harm, carried by 25 outlets. Reports of people affected 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.
138 of its 249 stories (55%) were about people being harmed, usually 27%. Reports of refugees ran at about three times the usual rate (7 stories). Landslides were named in 42 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual, with heavy rain, storm surge and power cuts.
265 of its 803 stories (33%) were about people being harmed, usually 25%. 65 of Sydney's 122 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of people injured ran at more than ten times the usual rate (32 stories).
Dhaka accounted for 29 of Bangladesh's 47 stories about harm, carried by 20 outlets. Reports of people injured ran at about twice the usual rate (9 stories). Anger in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.
Kabul accounted for 1,303 of Afghanistan's 1,634 stories about harm, carried by 1,158 outlets. Reports of evacuations ran at about three times the usual rate (435 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.
62 of its 125 stories (50%) were about people being harmed, usually 38%. Ho Chi Minh City accounted for 35 of Vietnam's 62 stories about harm, carried by 37 outlets.
Also named far more than usual: outbreaks in New Zealand (47 of its stories, about 6 times its usual); landslides in Mexico (42 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); covid in Iran (15 of its stories, about three times its usual); poisoning in Russia (20 of its stories, about 4 times its usual); storm surge in US (255 of its stories, more than ten times its usual).
Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 21 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 12,459 stories about harm among 44,890 counted on 21 Aug.
The share of stories about people being harmed was the highest since 23 May 2021. Reports of evacuations ran at about 5 times the usual rate, most often about Afghanistan and the US. On the side of help, reports of people freed or reunited ran at about twice the usual rate. Stories about people being harmed made up 28 in every 100 of the day's 44,890 stories, above the usual 24.
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?
Unlock a year of trends, free. Follow up to 5 countries, with a bell when their news changes, and 👍 vote for Pro — ten years of the archive, any period, daily alerts.
Create a free accountSign in · a username, an email and a password.