We measure how the world's news covered people being harmed — and the help and hope within it.
578 of its 681 stories (85%) were about people being harmed, usually 54%. Kabul accounted for 528 of Afghanistan's 578 stories about harm, carried by 707 outlets. Reports of people killed ran at about twice the usual rate (323 stories). Its coverage was about three times as grief-stricken as the world's. Fear in its coverage rose to about twice its own usual.
76 of its 160 stories (48%) were about people being harmed, usually 39%. Colombo accounted for 46 of Sri Lanka's 76 stories about harm, carried by 28 outlets. 24 of Colombo's 46 stories were about protests or strikes. Heavy rain was named in 11 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual, with landslides.
20 of its 64 stories (31%) were about people being harmed, usually 22%. Reports of people killed ran at about twice the usual rate (7 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's.
26 of its 64 stories (41%) were about people being harmed, usually 30%. Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's.
83 of its 190 stories (44%) were about people being harmed, usually 28%. Cairo accounted for 64 of Egypt's 83 stories about harm, carried by 246 outlets. Reports of arrests ran at about 4 times the usual rate (33 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's.
52 of its 78 stories (67%) were about people being harmed, usually 48%. Reports of arrests ran at about three times the usual rate (29 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.
17 of its 41 stories (41%) were about people being harmed, usually 20%. Reports of people affected ran at about 4 times the usual rate (5 stories).
142 of its 383 stories (37%) were about people being harmed, usually 31%. Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.
28 of its 87 stories (32%) were about people being harmed, usually 24%. Reports of people displaced ran at about 8 times the usual rate (5 stories).
Reports of abductions ran at about twice the usual rate (60 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.
Also named far more than usual: snowstorms in Switzerland (12 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); hiv in Canada (42 of its stories, about 6 times its usual); helicopter crash in Pakistan (14 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); storm surge in US (17 of its stories, about three times its usual).
Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 2 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 17,151 stories about harm among 80,361 counted on 2 Aug.
Mentions of snowstorms ran more than ten times their usual in Switzerland's news. of the day's 80,361 news stories, 21 in every 100 were about people being harmed, as usual. Reports of people freed or reunited, a sign of help, ran at about one and a half times the usual rate. A year earlier, on 2 August 2021, 24 in every 100 stories were about people being harmed, against 21 today. In Afghanistan, 85% of the news was about people being harmed, where 54% is usual.
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?
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