We measure how the world's news covered people being harmed — and the help and hope within it.
34 of its 52 stories (65%) were about people being harmed, usually 23%. Sofia accounted for 30 of Bulgaria's 34 stories about harm, carried by 149 outlets. Reports of arrests ran at more than ten times the usual rate (21 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's.
27 of its 39 stories (69%) were about people being harmed, usually 31%. Tunis accounted for 18 of Tunisia's 27 stories about harm, carried by 17 outlets. 11 of Tunis' 18 stories were about protests or strikes.
40 of its 74 stories (54%) were about people being harmed, usually 34%. Reports of arrests ran at about three times the usual rate (15 stories). Its coverage was about twice as fearful as the world's.
42 of its 131 stories (32%) were about people being harmed, usually 20%. Covid was named in 28 of its stories about harm, about 6 times usual.
278 of its 612 stories (45%) were about people being harmed, usually 35%. Karachi accounted for 147 of Pakistan's 278 stories about harm, carried by 220 outlets. Its coverage was about three times as fearful as the world's.
Reports of abductions ran at more than ten times the usual rate (8 stories). Illness was named in 12 of its stories about harm, about three times usual. Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.
16 of its 23 stories (70%) were about people being harmed, usually 19%. Reports of people killed ran at about 4 times the usual rate (5 stories).
14 of its 24 stories (58%) were about people being harmed, usually 37%. Reports of people affected ran at about twice the usual rate (5 stories).
12 of its 13 stories (92%) were about people being harmed, usually 66%. Reports of people displaced ran at about twice the usual rate (5 stories).
6 of its 12 stories (50%) were about people being harmed, usually 23%. 6 of Paramaribo's 6 stories were about protests or strikes.
Also named far more than usual: power cuts in New Zealand (28 of its stories, about three times its usual); train derailment in US (290 of its stories, about 5 times its usual); illness in Syria (12 of its stories, about three times its usual); heavy rain in South Africa (10 of its stories, about three times its usual); storms in UK (11 of its stories, about 4 times its usual).
Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 18 Feb. 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 8,497 stories about harm among 41,607 counted on 18 Feb.
Bulgaria stood out: 65% of its news was about people being harmed, usually 23%. 20 in every 100 of the day's 41,607 news stories were about people being harmed, as usual. For the second day running, the news turned to Bulgaria. A year earlier, on 18 February 2022, 24 in every 100 stories were about people being harmed, 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 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?
Unlock a year of trends, free. Follow up to 5 countries, with a bell when their news changes, and 👍 vote for Pro — ten years of the archive, any period, daily alerts.
Create a free accountSign in · a username, an email and a password.