We measure how the world's news covered people being harmed — and the help and hope within it.
60 of its 125 stories (48%) were about people being harmed, usually 20%. Stutthof accounted for 46 of Poland's 60 stories about harm, carried by 134 outlets. Reports of arrests ran at about 8 times the usual rate (13 stories). Hunger was named in 16 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual. Its coverage was about three times as grief-stricken as the world's.
83 of its 119 stories (70%) were about people being harmed, usually 56%. Damascus accounted for 38 of Syria's 83 stories about harm, carried by 53 outlets. Reports of arrests ran at about three times the usual rate (20 stories). Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.
113 of its 248 stories (46%) were about people being harmed, usually 25%. Reports of people affected ran at about 6 times the usual rate (71 stories). Storms were named in 49 of its stories about harm, about 7 times usual.
8 of Ramallah's 13 stories were about protests or strikes. Illness was named in 15 of its stories about harm, about three times usual. Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's.
279 of its 744 stories (38%) were about people being harmed, usually 28%. Reports of abductions ran at about 5 times the usual rate (28 stories). Its coverage was about twice as fearful as the world's.
37 of its 92 stories (40%) were about people being harmed, usually 31%. Reports of people killed ran at about twice the usual rate (23 stories). Its coverage was about three times as fearful as the world's. Grief in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.
Tehran accounted for 63 of Iran's 126 stories about harm, carried by 149 outlets. 46 of Tehran's 63 stories were about protests or strikes. Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.
19 of its 45 stories (42%) were about people being harmed, usually 12%. Its coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's.
23 of its 47 stories (49%) were about people being harmed, usually 24%. Reports of people killed ran at about twice the usual rate (10 stories).
114 of its 305 stories (37%) were about people being harmed, usually 24%. Reports of evacuations ran at about 8 times the usual rate (9 stories).
Also named far more than usual: covid in Indonesia (15 of its stories, about three times its usual); covid in Israel (29 of its stories, about three times its usual); snowstorms in Canada (53 of its stories, about 6 times its usual); snowstorms in US (368 of its stories, about 4 times its usual); storms in China (13 of its stories, about 4 times its usual).
Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 20 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 15,082 stories about harm among 73,582 counted on 20 Dec.
Poland stood out: 48% of its news was about people being harmed, usually 20%. 20 in every 100 of the day's 73,582 news stories were about people being harmed, above the usual 19. On 20 December 2021, a year earlier, the share was 27 in every 100, against 20 today.
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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