We measure how the world's news covered people being harmed — and the help and hope within it.
75 of its 132 stories (57%) were about people being harmed, usually 45%. Tehran accounted for 47 of Iran's 75 stories about harm, carried by 105 outlets. 24 of Tehran's 47 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of people affected ran at about twice the usual rate (7 stories).
Jerusalem accounted for 222 of Israel's 959 stories about harm, carried by 475 outlets. Reports of people injured ran at about twice the usual rate (228 stories). Hunger was named in 69 of its stories about harm, about 4 times usual. Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.
96 of its 387 stories (25%) were about people being harmed, usually 14%. Reports of evacuations 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.
46 of its 178 stories (26%) were about people being harmed, usually 19%. Illness was named in 33 of its stories about harm, about 6 times usual. Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.
53 of its 100 stories (53%) were about people being harmed, usually 41%. Baghdad accounted for 36 of Iraq's 53 stories about harm, carried by 70 outlets. Its coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's.
30 of its 106 stories (28%) were about people being harmed, usually 19%. 10 of Istanbul's 15 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of people killed ran at about twice the usual rate (14 stories).
Gaza accounted for 224 of Palestine's 264 stories about harm, carried by 351 outlets. Hunger was named in 22 of its stories about harm, about three times usual. Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's.
13 of its 17 stories (76%) were about people being harmed, usually 25%. Reports of arrests ran at about 4 times the usual rate (13 stories).
33 of its 87 stories (38%) were about people being harmed, usually 20%. Power cuts were named in 11 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual.
33 of its 50 stories (66%) were about people being harmed, usually 53%. Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's. Grief in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.
Also named far more than usual: poisoning in Russia (21 of its stories, about 8 times its usual); power cuts in Sri Lanka (11 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); covid in Indonesia (10 of its stories, about 4 times its usual); heatwave in Australia (25 of its stories, about 5 times its usual); hunger in Palestine (22 of its stories, about three 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 11,723 stories about harm among 62,096 counted on 9 Dec.
Russia's news mentioned poisoning about 8 times as often as usual. 19 in every 100 of the day's 62,096 news stories were about people being harmed, as usual. In Iran, 57% of the news was about people being harmed, where 45% is usual. A year earlier, on 9 December 2022, 19 in every 100 stories were about people being harmed, the same as 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 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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