We measure how the world's news covered people being harmed — and the help and hope within it.
88 of Melbourne's 143 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of arrests ran at about twice the usual rate (69 stories). Earthquake was named in 39 of its stories about harm, about 4 times usual. Anger in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.
Reports of refugees ran at about three times the usual rate (8 stories). Road crashes were named in 13 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual. Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.
Kabul accounted for 168 of Afghanistan's 301 stories about harm, carried by 319 outlets. Hunger was named in 10 of its stories about harm, about three times usual. Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.
28 of its 67 stories (42%) were about people being harmed, usually 24%. Reports of people killed ran at about twice the usual rate (10 stories).
24 of its 31 stories (77%) were about people being harmed, usually 27%. Its coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's. Grief in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.
31 of its 49 stories (63%) were about people being harmed, usually 51%. Kigali accounted for 19 of Rwanda's 31 stories about harm, carried by 8 outlets.
58 of its 122 stories (48%) were about people being harmed, usually 40%. Its coverage was about twice as fearful as the world's.
Reports of abductions ran at more than ten times the usual rate (5 stories). Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.
Sanaa accounted for 22 of Yemen's 52 stories about harm, carried by 130 outlets. Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's. Fear in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.
Hunger was named in 11 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual. Its coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's.
Also named far more than usual: hunger in Syria (11 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); flu in Switzerland (12 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); landslides in Spain (13 of its stories, about 5 times its usual); drought in Philippines (10 of its stories, about 9 times its usual); polio in India (11 of its stories, about 7 times its usual).
Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 23 Sep. 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 23,833 stories about harm among 89,210 counted on 23 Sep.
Syria's news mentioned the hunger more than ten times as often as usual. 27 in every 100 of the day's 89,210 news stories were about people being harmed, below the usual 29. A year earlier, on 23 September 2020, 26 in every 100 stories were about people being harmed, against 27 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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