We measure how the world's news covered people being harmed — and the help and hope within it.
163 of its 198 stories (82%) were about people being harmed, usually 53%. Damascus accounted for 156 of Syria's 163 stories about harm, carried by 556 outlets. Reports of abductions ran at more than ten times the usual rate (33 stories). Its coverage was about three times as grief-stricken as the world's. Anger in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.
20 of its 30 stories (67%) were about people being harmed, usually 42%. Port-au-Prince accounted for 18 of Haiti's 20 stories about harm, carried by 29 outlets. Reports of abductions ran at about three times the usual rate (18 stories).
Reports of evacuations ran at about 5 times the usual rate (5 stories). Landslides were named in 15 of its stories about harm, about 6 times usual, with flooding. Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.
Reports of people injured ran at about three times the usual rate (7 stories). Food poisoning was named in 13 of its stories about harm, about 9 times usual, with outbreaks.
36 of its 112 stories (32%) were about people being harmed, usually 11%. Reports of people injured ran at more than ten times the usual rate (22 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.
207 of its 864 stories (24%) were about people being harmed, usually 15%. Reports of evacuations ran at more than ten times the usual rate (16 stories).
Hepatitis was named in 10 of its stories about harm, about 7 times usual. Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's.
Sanaa accounted for 20 of Yemen's 43 stories about harm, carried by 36 outlets. Its coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's.
Measles was named in 30 of its stories about harm, about 9 times usual, with rubella. Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.
Gaza accounted for 135 of Palestine's 153 stories about harm, carried by 453 outlets. Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's.
Also named far more than usual: heavy rain in Ireland (26 of its stories, about 7 times its usual); measles in UK (30 of its stories, about 9 times its usual); measles in Canada (10 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); hepatitis in Israel (10 of its stories, about 7 times its usual); accidents in US (18 of its stories, about 4 times its usual).
Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 20 Jan. 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 11,229 stories about harm among 58,818 counted on 20 Jan.
Ireland's news mentioned heavy rain about 7 times as often as usual. 19 in every 100 of the day's 58,818 news stories were about people being harmed, as usual. In Syria, 82% of the news was about people being harmed, where 53% is usual. A year earlier, on 20 January 2023, 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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