We measure how the world's news covered people being harmed — and the help and hope within it.
101 of its 123 stories (82%) were about people being harmed, usually 57%. Port-au-Prince accounted for 68 of Haiti's 101 stories about harm, carried by 125 outlets. 37 of Port-au-Prince's 68 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of abductions ran at about 4 times the usual rate (84 stories).
220 of its 296 stories (74%) were about people being harmed, usually 59%. Damascus accounted for 169 of Syria's 220 stories about harm, carried by 279 outlets. Reports of people injured ran at about three times the usual rate (94 stories). Its coverage was about three times as angry as the world's. Grief in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.
367 of its 980 stories (37%) were about people being harmed, usually 31%. Moscow accounted for 256 of Russia's 367 stories about harm, carried by 494 outlets. Reports of abductions ran at about three times the usual rate (5 stories). Poisoning was named in 51 of its stories about harm, about three times usual.
34 of its 49 stories (69%) were about people being harmed, usually 41%. Reports of people affected ran at more than ten times the usual rate (22 stories). Landslides were named in 23 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual.
560 of its 1,213 stories (46%) were about people being harmed, usually 32%. 172 of Lagos' 209 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of refugees ran at about three times the usual rate (10 stories). Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.
53 of its 81 stories (65%) were about people being harmed, usually 47%. Tigray accounted for 41 of Ethiopia's 53 stories about harm, carried by 107 outlets. Reports of people injured ran at about 8 times the usual rate (16 stories). Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.
127 of its 271 stories (47%) were about people being harmed, usually 28%. Reports of arrests ran at about twice the usual rate (5 stories). Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's.
69 of its 105 stories (66%) were about people being harmed, usually 56%. Jammu accounted for 30 of Kashmir's 69 stories about harm, carried by 21 outlets. Its coverage was about 4 times as fearful as the world's.
35 of its 96 stories (36%) were about people being harmed, usually 28%. Reports of people injured ran at about 7 times the usual rate (11 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's.
23 of its 63 stories (37%) were about people being harmed, usually 21%. Reports of people killed ran at about three times the usual rate (9 stories).
Also named far more than usual: volcanic eruption in Japan (61 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); landslides in India (137 of its stories, about 7 times its usual); outbreaks in Mexico (14 of its stories, about 8 times its usual); outbreaks in Malaysia (10 of its stories, about three times its usual); polio in Afghanistan (14 of its stories, about 5 times its usual).
Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 20 Oct. 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 23,528 stories about harm among 92,712 counted on 20 Oct.
The news turned to Haiti for the fourth day running. 25 in every 100 of the day's 92,712 news stories were about people being harmed, as usual. In Japan's news, mentions of volcanic eruption ran more than ten times their usual. Haiti stood out: 82% of its news was about people being harmed, usually 57%.
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.