We measure how the world's news covered people being harmed — and the help and hope within it.
102 of its 225 stories (45%) were about people being harmed, usually 31%. Dhaka accounted for 63 of Bangladesh's 102 stories about harm, carried by 37 outlets. 34 of Dhaka's 63 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of arrests ran at about three times the usual rate (28 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's.
32 of its 42 stories (76%) were about people being harmed, usually 54%. Varreux accounted for 21 of Haiti's 32 stories about harm, carried by 120 outlets. Covid was named in 19 of its stories about harm, about 5 times usual, with hunger. Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.
58 of its 125 stories (46%) were about people being harmed, usually 27%. Colombo accounted for 40 of Sri Lanka's 58 stories about harm, carried by 78 outlets. Reports of people killed ran at about 5 times the usual rate (23 stories).
13 of its 24 stories (54%) were about people being harmed, usually 21%. Reports of people affected ran at about 4 times the usual rate (5 stories).
153 of its 269 stories (57%) were about people being harmed, usually 43%. Tehran accounted for 71 of Iran's 153 stories about harm, carried by 156 outlets. 61 of Tehran's 71 stories were about protests or strikes. Its coverage was about three times as grief-stricken as the world's.
42 of its 104 stories (40%) were about people being harmed, usually 29%. Lima accounted for 30 of Peru's 42 stories about harm, carried by 128 outlets. 21 of Lima's 30 stories were about protests or strikes.
139 of its 492 stories (28%) were about people being harmed, usually 18%. Reports of arrests ran at about three times the usual rate (55 stories).
88 of its 177 stories (50%) were about people being harmed, usually 40%. Reports of arrests ran at about twice the usual rate (6 stories).
8 of its 21 stories (38%) were about people being harmed, usually 14%. Reports of people killed ran at about twice the usual rate (6 stories).
45 of its 143 stories (31%) were about people being harmed, usually 23%. Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.
Also named far more than usual: cyclone in India (80 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); flooding in South Africa (27 of its stories, about three times its usual); flu in China (39 of its stories, about 6 times its usual); extreme cold in Ireland (15 of its stories, about 9 times its usual); malaria in Nigeria (18 of its stories, about 5 times its usual).
Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 9 Dec. 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 13,692 stories about harm among 73,993 counted on 9 Dec.
Mentions of Covid ran about 5 times their usual in Haiti's news. of the day's 73,993 news stories, 19 in every 100 were about people being harmed, as usual. A year earlier, on 9 December 2021, 25 in every 100 stories were about people being harmed, against 19 today. Bangladesh's news was 45% about people being harmed, against a usual 31%.
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 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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