We measure how the world's news covered people being harmed — and the help and hope within it.
172 of its 243 stories (71%) were about people being harmed, usually 45%. Kabul accounted for 85 of Afghanistan's 172 stories about harm, carried by 104 outlets. Reports of people injured ran at about 5 times the usual rate (81 stories). Its coverage was about three times as angry as the world's.
112 of its 268 stories (42%) were about people being harmed, usually 33%. Dhaka accounted for 61 of Bangladesh's 112 stories about harm, carried by 39 outlets. Reports of people killed ran at about twice the usual rate (69 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's.
104 of its 379 stories (27%) were about people being harmed, usually 20%. Reports of people displaced ran at more than ten times the usual rate (23 stories). Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's.
Antananarivo accounted for 50 of Madagascar's 71 stories about harm, carried by 110 outlets. 44 of Antananarivo's 50 stories were about protests or strikes. Fear in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.
19 of its 50 stories (38%) were about people being harmed, usually 22%. Baghdad accounted for 16 of Iraq's 19 stories about harm, carried by 16 outlets. Reports of people injured ran at about three times the usual rate (6 stories).
32 of its 61 stories (52%) were about people being harmed, usually 22%. Reports of abductions ran at about 6 times the usual rate (6 stories).
20 of its 56 stories (36%) were about people being harmed, usually 17%. Reports of arrests ran at about 5 times the usual rate (8 stories).
85 of its 150 stories (57%) were about people being harmed, usually 44%. Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's.
20 of its 32 stories (62%) were about people being harmed, usually 46%. Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.
47 of its 157 stories (30%) were about people being harmed, usually 22%. Reports of people killed ran at about twice the usual rate (16 stories).
Also named far more than usual: volcanic eruption in Indonesia (31 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); hiv in South Africa (18 of its stories, about 4 times its usual); house fires in Australia (18 of its stories, about 6 times its usual); poisoning in Israel (17 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); wildfires in UK (19 of its stories, about 5 times its usual).
Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 15 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 16,453 stories about harm among 94,362 counted on 15 Oct.
Mentions of volcanic eruption ran more than ten times their usual in Indonesia's news. of the day's 94,362 news stories, 17 in every 100 were about people being harmed, as usual. the news turned to Afghanistan for the second day running. Afghanistan's news was 71% about people being harmed, against a usual 45%. On 15 October 2024, a year earlier, the share was 18 in every 100, against 17 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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