We measure how the world's news covered people being harmed — and the help and hope within it.
60 of its 72 stories (83%) were about people being harmed, usually 27%. Tripoli accounted for 27 of Libya's 60 stories about harm, carried by 114 outlets. Reports of arrests ran at more than ten times the usual rate (22 stories). Illness was named in 47 of its stories about harm, about 4 times usual. Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.
25 of its 52 stories (48%) were about people being harmed, usually 31%. Lima accounted for 19 of Peru's 25 stories about harm, carried by 45 outlets. 18 of Lima's 19 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of arrests ran at about three times the usual rate (8 stories).
27 of its 66 stories (41%) were about people being harmed, usually 17%. Brussels accounted for 19 of Belgium's 27 stories about harm, carried by 32 outlets. Reports of arrests ran at about 8 times the usual rate (19 stories).
181 of its 379 stories (48%) were about people being harmed, usually 40%. Reports of people injured ran at about twice the usual rate (65 stories). Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.
74 of its 137 stories (54%) were about people being harmed, usually 43%. Tehran accounted for 48 of Iran's 74 stories about harm, carried by 66 outlets. 38 of Tehran's 48 stories were about protests or strikes. Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's.
51 of its 89 stories (57%) were about people being harmed, usually 46%. Kabul accounted for 22 of Afghanistan's 51 stories about harm, carried by 31 outlets. Reports of people injured ran at about three times the usual rate (26 stories).
42 of its 157 stories (27%) were about people being harmed, usually 18%. Reports of people injured ran at about 7 times the usual rate (13 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's. Anger in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.
673 of its 2,438 stories (28%) were about people being harmed, usually 22%. Reports of evacuations ran at about 4 times the usual rate (5 stories). Extreme cold was named in 37 of its stories about harm, about 8 times usual, with snowstorms and house fires.
70 of its 90 stories (78%) were about people being harmed, usually 19%. Reports of people killed ran at more than ten times the usual rate (62 stories).
13 of its 16 stories (81%) were about people being harmed, usually 49%. Its coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's.
Also named far more than usual: hurricane in Mexico (16 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); extreme cold in Ireland (18 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); cyclone in India (47 of its stories, about 6 times its usual); extreme cold in UK (37 of its stories, about 8 times its usual); snowstorms in US (69 of its stories, about 4 times its usual).
Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 11 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 6,929 stories about harm among 35,110 counted on 11 Dec.
Libya stood out: 83% of its news was about people being harmed, usually 27%. 20 in every 100 of the day's 35,110 news stories were about people being harmed, as usual. In Mexico's news, mentions of the hurricane ran more than ten times their usual. On 11 December 2021, a year earlier, the share was 27 in every 100, against 20 today. This week the news turned most often to Iran, on 3 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 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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