We measure how the world's news covered people being harmed — and the help and hope within it.
89 of its 154 stories (58%) were about people being harmed, usually 51%. Kabul accounted for 69 of Afghanistan's 89 stories about harm, carried by 79 outlets. Reports of abductions ran at more than ten times the usual rate (6 stories). Illness was named in 11 of its stories about harm, about three times usual. Its coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's.
37 of its 59 stories (63%) were about people being harmed, usually 36%. Bamako accounted for 30 of Mali's 37 stories about harm, carried by 84 outlets. Reports of people killed ran at about three times the usual rate (20 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's.
50 of its 63 stories (79%) were about people being harmed, usually 58%. Almaty accounted for 28 of Kazakhstan's 50 stories about harm, carried by 40 outlets. 22 of Almaty's 28 stories were about protests or strikes. Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.
221 of its 236 stories (94%) were about people being harmed, usually 58%. Reports of evacuations ran at about 8 times the usual rate (21 stories). Drownings were named in 17 of its stories about harm, about 5 times usual, with cyclone.
40 of its 44 stories (91%) were about people being harmed, usually 48%. Mogadishu accounted for 35 of Somalia's 40 stories about harm, carried by 68 outlets. Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.
41 of its 114 stories (36%) were about people being harmed, usually 20%. Reports of people injured ran at more than ten times the usual rate (15 stories). Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's.
22 of its 44 stories (50%) were about people being harmed, usually 29%. Reports of evacuations ran at more than ten times the usual rate (5 stories). Drownings were named in 10 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual.
37 of its 57 stories (65%) were about people being harmed, usually 33%. Vienna accounted for 30 of Austria's 37 stories about harm, carried by 62 outlets.
103 of its 318 stories (32%) were about people being harmed, usually 18%. Reports of evacuations ran at more than ten times the usual rate (21 stories).
111 of its 227 stories (49%) were about people being harmed, usually 34%. Cyclone was named in 17 of its stories about harm, about 5 times usual.
Also named far more than usual: drownings in Peru (10 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); cyclone in New Zealand (17 of its stories, about 5 times its usual); snowstorms in Canada (28 of its stories, about 7 times its usual); snowstorms in US (327 of its stories, about three times its usual); respiratory illness in India (17 of its stories, about 5 times its usual).
Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 16 Jan. 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 11,370 stories about harm among 39,087 counted on 16 Jan.
Help and hope: reports of people freed or reunited ran at about 9 times the usual rate. of the day's 39,087 news stories, 29 in every 100 were about people being harmed, as usual. Abductions were reported at more than ten times the usual rate, most often about the US and Nigeria. Mentions of drownings ran more than ten times their usual in Peru's news. In Afghanistan, 58% of the news was about people being harmed, where 51% is usual. This week the news turned most often to Kazakhstan, on 4 of 7 days; help rose on 1 of them.
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 harsher 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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