We measure how the world's news covered people being harmed — and the help and hope within it.
76 of its 193 stories (39%) were about people being harmed, usually 22%. Sharm el-Sheikh accounted for 54 of Egypt's 76 stories about harm, carried by 68 outlets. Reports of people injured ran at more than ten times the usual rate (34 stories). Road crashes were named in 24 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual. Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's.
144 of its 212 stories (68%) were about people being harmed, usually 44%. Kabul accounted for 116 of Afghanistan's 144 stories about harm, carried by 221 outlets. Reports of people injured ran at about 5 times the usual rate (54 stories). Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.
63 of its 88 stories (72%) were about people being harmed, usually 59%. Antananarivo accounted for 50 of Madagascar's 63 stories about harm, carried by 116 outlets. 50 of Antananarivo's 50 stories were about protests or strikes. Its coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's.
Tel Aviv accounted for 227 of Israel's 649 stories about harm, carried by 469 outlets. Reports of people displaced ran at about twice the usual rate (77 stories). Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's.
59 of its 131 stories (45%) were about people being harmed, usually 23%. Reports of people affected ran at about 6 times the usual rate (25 stories). Landslides were named in 38 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual, with heavy rain, flooding and power cuts. Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's.
250 of its 498 stories (50%) were about people being harmed, usually 37%. Islamabad accounted for 120 of Pakistan's 250 stories about harm, carried by 104 outlets. Reports of people injured ran at about three times the usual rate (65 stories). Its coverage was about twice as fearful as the world's. Anger in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.
19 of its 45 stories (42%) were about people being harmed, usually 14%. Its coverage was about one and a half times as warm as the world's.
15 of its 38 stories (39%) were about people being harmed, usually 14%. Flooding was named in 11 of its stories about harm, about 5 times usual, with storms.
4 of its 5 stories (80%) were about people being harmed, usually 14%. 4 of Abidjan's 4 stories were about protests or strikes.
66 of its 187 stories (35%) were about people being harmed, usually 29%. Its coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's.
Also named far more than usual: landslides in Mexico (38 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); flooding in Jersey (11 of its stories, about 5 times its usual); heavy rain in US (71 of its stories, about three times its usual); polio in India (12 of its stories, more than ten times its usual).
Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 12 Oct. 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 8,237 stories about harm among 42,267 counted on 12 Oct.
Help and hope: reports of people freed or reunited ran at about twice the usual rate. of the day's 42,267 news stories, 19 in every 100 were about people being harmed, above the usual 18. Reports of abductions ran at about three times the usual rate, most often about Israel and Palestine. Egypt's news was 39% about people being harmed, against a usual 22%. A year earlier, on 12 October 2024, 19 in every 100 stories were about people being harmed, the same as today. This week the news turned most often to Israel, on 3 of 7 days; help rose on 6 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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