We measure how the world's news covered people being harmed — and the help and hope within it.
253 of its 629 stories (40%) were about people being harmed, usually 21%. Barcelona accounted for 106 of Spain's 253 stories about harm, carried by 224 outlets. Reports of people injured ran at about 4 times the usual rate (157 stories). Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's.
3 of Yanouh's 6 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of people injured ran at about twice the usual rate (6 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's.
Damascus accounted for 58 of Syria's 140 stories about harm, carried by 66 outlets. Reports of arrests ran at about twice the usual rate (33 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's.
Kyiv accounted for 62 of Ukraine's 89 stories about harm, carried by 69 outlets. Reports of arrests ran at about twice the usual rate (6 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's.
10 of its 15 stories (67%) were about people being harmed, usually 19%. Tunis accounted for 10 of Tunisia's 10 stories about harm, carried by 9 outlets. Reports of people killed ran at about twice the usual rate (7 stories).
Tehran accounted for 166 of Iran's 265 stories about harm, carried by 380 outlets. 146 of Tehran's 166 stories were about protests or strikes. Its coverage was about three times as angry as the world's.
23 of its 65 stories (35%) were about people being harmed, usually 14%. Reports of arrests ran at more than ten times the usual rate (12 stories).
37 of its 88 stories (42%) were about people being harmed, usually 27%. Reports of people injured ran at about 6 times the usual rate (5 stories).
Snowstorms were named in 10 of its stories about harm, about 6 times usual. Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.
Reports of evacuations ran at about 6 times the usual rate (8 stories). Covid was named in 13 of its stories about harm, about 4 times usual, with cyclone.
Also named far more than usual: snowstorms in US (615 of its stories, about 6 times its usual); snowstorms in Greece (10 of its stories, about 6 times its usual); covid in New Zealand (13 of its stories, about 4 times its usual); natural hazards in Japan (10 of its stories, about 5 times its usual); dengue in India (19 of its stories, about 10 times its usual).
Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 21 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 14,870 stories about harm among 87,316 counted on 21 Jan.
The share of stories about people being harmed was the lowest since 11 December 2025. 17 in every 100 of the day's 87,316 news stories were about people being harmed, below the usual 18. For the third day running, the news turned to Spain. the US's news mentioned snowstorms about 6 times as often as usual. Spain's news was 40% about people being harmed, against a usual 21%.
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 much softer 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.