We measure how the world's news covered people being harmed — and the help and hope within it.
33 of its 46 stories (72%) were about people being harmed, usually 30%. Dakar accounted for 30 of Senegal's 33 stories about harm, carried by 83 outlets. Reports of people killed ran at about twice the usual rate (21 stories). Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's. Anger in its coverage rose to about twice its own usual.
235 of its 455 stories (52%) were about people being harmed, usually 41%. Jerusalem accounted for 108 of Israel's 235 stories about harm, carried by 139 outlets. Reports of people injured ran at about three times the usual rate (48 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's.
102 of its 125 stories (82%) were about people being harmed, usually 63%. les Cayes accounted for 41 of Haiti's 102 stories about harm, carried by 83 outlets. Reports of people affected ran at about twice the usual rate (42 stories).
50 of its 90 stories (56%) were about people being harmed, usually 46%. 13 of Gaza's 24 stories were about protests or strikes. Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's.
83 of its 139 stories (60%) were about people being harmed, usually 50%. Tehran accounted for 45 of Iran's 83 stories about harm, carried by 58 outlets. Reports of arrests ran at about twice the usual rate (18 stories). Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.
53 of its 126 stories (42%) were about people being harmed, usually 34%. Colombo accounted for 37 of Sri Lanka's 53 stories about harm, carried by 31 outlets. Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's.
Kabul accounted for 1,739 of Afghanistan's 2,191 stories about harm, carried by 1,327 outlets. Reports of evacuations ran at about twice the usual rate (747 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.
78 of its 197 stories (40%) were about people being harmed, usually 22%. Reports of evacuations ran at more than ten times the usual rate (43 stories).
13 of its 20 stories (65%) were about people being harmed, usually 37%. Reports of people affected ran at about 5 times the usual rate (6 stories).
13 of its 29 stories (45%) were about people being harmed, usually 26%. Its coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's.
Also named far more than usual: outbreaks in New Zealand (91 of its stories, about three times its usual); landslides in Zambia (16 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); flu in Spain (16 of its stories, about 5 times its usual); poisoning in Germany (15 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); flooding in Malaysia (10 of its stories, about 7 times its usual).
Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 24 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 20,869 stories about harm among 82,807 counted on 24 Aug.
Reports of evacuations ran at about three times the usual rate, most often about Afghanistan and the US. 25 in every 100 of the day's 82,807 news stories were about people being harmed, as usual. In Senegal, 72% of the news was about people being harmed, where 30% is usual. On 24 August 2020, a year earlier, the share was 29 in every 100, 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 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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