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Roof collapse at school in Peshawar, Pakistan, kills dozens of children and a teacher

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Coverage spectrum

Covered by 14 outlets across the spectrum.

25 articles in total. The spectrum counts each outlet once and leaves opinion out. How we measure bias

Crowd of men pressing around buckets and a rescue-vested official inside a school corridor.
Image via New York PostHow images are chosenReport this image

A roof collapsed at al-Khair, a private school in Peshawar in northwestern Pakistan, during morning classes on Thursday. Early reports gave tolls of about 10 to 18 dead; later reports, citing hospital officials and other sources, put the death toll at roughly 32 to 35, most of them children, including a teacher. Dozens more were injured, with reported figures ranging from more than a dozen to more than 50. Pakistan's government has ordered inspections of schools in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, and the province's education department has been given three days to report its findings, according to The Associated Press. Relatives of the victims say they had warned that the roof was leaking.

Headline and summary written by Mantle’s AI from the coverage below, under published rules. How this works

What happened

Key points

Each point shows who reports it, from Far Left to Far Right.

  1. A school roof collapsed in Peshawar, northwestern Pakistan, during morning classes, killing children and a teacher.

    Across the spectrumReported byLeft4Center5Right2Far Right1See the outletsHide the outlets
    Left
    NPR, The Guardian, Al Jazeera English, The New York Times
    Center
    Sky News, Deutsche Welle, France 24, Straight Arrow News, BBC News
    Right
    New York Post, The Washington Times
    Far Right
    Breitbart News

  2. Death tolls rose across reports: early figures of 10 to 18 dead were later updated by officials and hospital sources to roughly 32 to 35, including a teacher.

    Across the spectrumReported byLeft4Center2Right1Far Right1See the outletsHide the outlets
    Left
    NPR, The Guardian, Al Jazeera English, The New York Times
    Center
    France 24, BBC News
    Right
    The Washington Times
    Far Right
    Breitbart News

  3. Dozens more were injured; reported figures ranged from more than a dozen to more than 50.

    Reported byLeft1Center2Right2See the outletsHide the outlets
    Left
    NPR
    Center
    France 24, BBC News
    Right
    New York Post, The Washington Times

  4. Pakistan's government ordered inspections of schools in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, with three days given to report findings.

    One side only: the leftReported byLeft2See the outletsHide the outlets
    Left
    Al Jazeera English, The New York Times

  5. Relatives of the victims said they had warned that the roof was leaking.

    One outletAl Jazeera English· Left

What is contested

Where accounts differ

Points the coverage does not agree on, and who says what.

  • The number of people killed in the collapse.

    Early reports gave 10 to 18 dead; later reports cite 32 to 35 dead, including a teacher, from hospital officials and other sources.

  • Whether the inspections cover public and private schools.

    Al Jazeera reports conflicting accounts, some saying both public and private schools and others only private schools; The New York Times reports inspections across the region.

How each side tells it

Compare views

Every side reports a roof collapse at a Peshawar, Pakistan, school that killed dozens of children and a teacher, with tolls rising across coverage. Left outlets add inspections, regulation and families' demands for justice, while center and right coverage stays with the death toll and scale.

  • the left

    6 outlets

    Left headlines lead with accountability: the New York Times stresses regulation and Al Jazeera families' demands for justice, while the Guardian and NPR run wire reports headlined by casualty count.

    Deadly School Roof Collapse in Pakistan Vague attribution“Raises Questions”The writer is raising the question while pretending someone else did.More neutral: state the question and who is askingDisagree with this highlight? Over Regulation
    The New York TimesLeftAll left-leaning headlines

  • the center

    5 outlets

    Center headlines report the collapse and casualty figures plainly, with the count rising as reports update; the BBC piece uses a scene-setting headline.

    Pakistan school roof collapse kills dozens of pupils, teacher in Peshawar
    France 24CenterAll center headlines

  • the right

    3 outlets

    Right headlines put casualty counts and the scale of the disaster first; the New York Post headline is an Associated Press report, while far-right Breitbart headlines a count of 33 children and a teacher.

    School roof collapse in Pakistan kills at least 35 and injures more than 50
    The Washington TimesRightAll right-leaning headlines

The words they chose

Language to notice

Words that carry a judgement beyond the facts. Tap a highlighted word anywhere on the page to see why.

  • Left1

    Raises Questions

  • Center0

    No loaded words in its own voice.

  • Right0

    No loaded words in its own voice.

In the outlets’ own words

  • Vague attribution

    Raises QuestionsMore neutral: state the question and who is asking

    The writer is raising the question while pretending someone else did.

    Deadly School Roof Collapse in Pakistan Raises Questions Over Regulation

    Used byThe New York Times (Left)

See the full language guide

See for yourself

Side by side

What each side leads with and what it leaves out. Open a side to read its headlines.

From the left

6 outlets

Leads with

  • inspections and regulation
  • families' demands for justice
  • relatives' warnings of a leaking roof
  • rising death toll

Leaves out

  • deadliest such incident in Pakistan
  • roof collapses increasingly common in Pakistan

Reported by other sides, not found in this side’s coverage.

See the 6 headlines from the leftHide the headlines

From the center

5 outlets

Leads with

  • casualty figures and injuries
  • location in Peshawar
  • children and a teacher among the dead
  • hospital officials' figures

Leaves out

  • government inspections ordered in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
  • relatives' warnings that the roof was leaking

Reported by other sides, not found in this side’s coverage.

See the 5 headlines from the centerHide the headlines

From the right

3 outlets

Leads with

  • casualty counts and injuries
  • scale of the disaster
  • children among the dead

Leaves out

  • government ordered school inspections
  • relatives said the roof had been leaking

Reported by other sides, not found in this side’s coverage.

See the 3 headlines from the rightHide the headlines
  • Breitbart NewsFar Right

    At Least 33 Children, Plus Teacher, Killed in Pakistan School Collapse

    At least 33 children and their female teacher were killed at the Al Khair Education Center in Peshawar, Pakistan, on Thursday when the roof of a building collapsed during morning classes.

    Read at Breitbart News (opens in a new tab)
  • The Washington TimesRight

    School roof collapse in Pakistan kills at least 35 and injures more than 50

    The roof of a private school collapsed in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar on Thursday, killing at least 34 children and a teacher and injuring more than 50 other people in the deadliest incident of its kind in the country, authorities and a hospital official said.

    Read at The Washington Times (opens in a new tab)
  • New York PostRightAssociated Press report

    School roof collapse kills at least 18 people, injures more than 3 dozen in Pakistan

    The roof of a private school collapsed in northwestern Pakistan on Thursday, killing at least 10 children and injuring more than two dozen others, an emergency services official said.

    Read at New York Post (opens in a new tab)

Articles you open from here build My Mix, a private picture of how your reading spreads across the spectrum, kept on this device. What is My Mix?

The left is Far Left and Left together. The right is Right and Far Right together. Every outlet keeps its own five-point rating.

Who reported it when

How the coverage built up

  • Left

    1 hr 33 min later

    Its first report, Oct 15, 3:54 AM EDT

  • Center

    First to report

    Sky News, Oct 15, 2:21 AM EDT

  • Right

    50 min later

    Its first report, Oct 15, 3:11 AM EDT

See the order the outlets reported inHide the order
  1. Sky NewsCenterOct 15, 2:21 AM EDT
  2. Deutsche WelleCenterOct 15, 3:11 AM EDT
  3. New York PostRightOct 15, 3:11 AM EDT
  4. The New York TimesLeftOct 15, 3:54 AM EDT
  5. France 24CenterOct 15, 4:02 AM EDT
  6. NPRLeftOct 15, 4:22 AM EDT
  7. The GuardianLeftOct 15, 4:25 AM EDT
  8. Al Jazeera EnglishLeftOct 15, 4:30 AM EDT
  9. CBS NewsLeftOct 15, 5:08 AM EDT
  10. The Washington TimesRightOct 15, 6:49 AM EDT
  11. Straight Arrow NewsCenterOct 15, 6:53 AM EDT
  12. BBC NewsCenterOct 15, 8:28 AM EDT
  13. ABC NewsLeftOct 15, 11:33 AM EDT
  14. Breitbart NewsFar RightOct 15, 7:31 PM EDT

Times are the ones the outlets published in their own feeds, in Eastern time. Opinion is left out.

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