We measure how the world's news covered people being harmed — and the help and hope within it.
88 of its 138 stories (64%) were about people being harmed, usually 22%. Brussels accounted for 74 of Belgium's 88 stories about harm, carried by 199 outlets. Reports of people injured ran at more than ten times the usual rate (70 stories). Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's.
42 of its 53 stories (79%) were about people being harmed, usually 50%. Khartoum accounted for 36 of Sudan's 42 stories about harm, carried by 6 outlets. 34 of Khartoum's 36 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of arrests ran at about 5 times the usual rate (32 stories).
92 of its 219 stories (42%) were about people being harmed, usually 35%. Dhaka accounted for 57 of Bangladesh's 92 stories about harm, carried by 34 outlets. Reports of people affected ran at about three times the usual rate (27 stories). Fear in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.
10 of its 27 stories (37%) were about people being harmed, usually 23%. Reports of people affected ran at about 5 times the usual rate (8 stories).
153 of its 337 stories (45%) were about people being harmed, usually 34%. Tel Aviv accounted for 63 of Israel's 153 stories about harm, carried by 171 outlets. Reports of people affected ran at about twice the usual rate (29 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's.
97 of its 228 stories (43%) were about people being harmed, usually 24%. Reports of people displaced ran at more than ten times the usual rate (17 stories). Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.
549 of its 1,605 stories (34%) were about people being harmed, usually 24%. Reports of evacuations ran at about 8 times the usual rate (78 stories). Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's. Grief in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.
45 of its 105 stories (43%) were about people being harmed, usually 33%. 13 of Tehran's 23 stories were about protests or strikes. Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.
Kyiv accounted for 324 of Ukraine's 815 stories about harm, carried by 666 outlets. Reports of people displaced ran at about three times the usual rate (90 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's.
24 of its 56 stories (43%) were about people being harmed, usually 22%. Reports of people killed ran at about 4 times the usual rate (20 stories).
Also named far more than usual: polio in Malawi (13 of its stories, about 4 times its usual); flooding in New Zealand (15 of its stories, about 8 times its usual); cyclone in India (30 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); wildfires in UK (11 of its stories, about 7 times its usual); helicopter crash in US (15 of its stories, about 10 times its usual).
Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 20 Mar. 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 9,139 stories about harm among 39,692 counted on 20 Mar.
Belgium's news was 64% about people being harmed, against a usual 22%. of the day's 39,692 news stories, 23 in every 100 were about people being harmed, as usual. Reports of people displaced ran at about twice the usual rate, most often about Ukraine and Russia. Mentions of the polio ran about 4 times their usual in Malawi's news. A year earlier, on 20 March 2021, 27 in every 100 stories were about people being harmed, against 23 today. This week the news turned most often to Iran, on 3 of 7 days; help rose on 3 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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