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What the world's news said happened to people.
Counts of coverage, not of suffering
23,374 stories about harm· Trends· Every past day

We measure how the world's news covered people being harmed — and the help and hope within it.

How to read these numbers →

Protests in Tehran (Iran), power cuts in Portugal and violence in Gaza drew the news. Palestine's coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's. Everywhere we counted, the words were harsher than usual.

Help and hope: reports of people freed or reunited ran at about twice the usual rate →
Part of lifeRights & justice 30 in 100 of the stories about harm · about as usual Country that rose mostPortugal 62 in 100 of its 263 stories, usually 17
RegionMiddle East & North Africa 49 in 100 of its stories, usually 42
Tone of the words Harsher than usual across the world's stories about harm

What the world's news was about today

how these are picked →
Protests & strikes

Iran

672 of its 996 stories (67%) were about people being harmed, usually 32%. Tehran accounted for 594 of Iran's 672 stories about harm, carried by 173 outlets. 318 of Tehran's 594 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of people injured ran at about 8 times the usual rate (355 stories). Cholera was named in 117 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual, with power cuts, earthquake and poisoning. Its coverage was about twice as fearful as the world's.

Disasters & accidents

Portugal

162 of its 263 stories (62%) were about people being harmed, usually 17%. Lisbon accounted for 113 of Portugal's 162 stories about harm, carried by 109 outlets. Reports of evacuations ran at more than ten times the usual rate (22 stories). Power cuts were named in 18 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual.

Conflict & violence

Palestine

526 of its 951 stories (55%) were about people being harmed, usually 46%. Gaza accounted for 392 of Palestine's 526 stories about harm, carried by 57 outlets. Reports of people injured ran at about 4 times the usual rate (332 stories). Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's. Anger in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.

Deaths & injuries, cause not given

Finland

66 of its 111 stories (59%) were about people being harmed, usually 16%. Reports of people killed ran at more than ten times the usual rate (58 stories). Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's.

6 more places the news pointed at
Protests & strikes

Zimbabwe

449 of its 866 stories (52%) were about people being harmed, usually 30%. Harare accounted for 390 of Zimbabwe's 449 stories about harm, carried by 428 outlets. 295 of Harare's 390 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of arrests ran at about 6 times the usual rate (231 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as warm as the world's.

Protests & strikes

Bangladesh

286 of its 489 stories (58%) were about people being harmed, usually 38%. Dhaka accounted for 236 of Bangladesh's 286 stories about harm, carried by 188 outlets. 215 of Dhaka's 236 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of people injured ran at about 4 times the usual rate (91 stories). Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.

Disasters & accidents

Armenia

58 of its 83 stories (70%) were about people being harmed, usually 25%. Hrazdan accounted for 53 of Armenia's 58 stories about harm, carried by 8 outlets. Reports of people killed ran at about three times the usual rate (48 stories). Flooding was named in 34 of its stories about harm, about three times usual, with heavy rain and heatstroke.

Protests & strikes

South Korea

71 of its 221 stories (32%) were about people being harmed, usually 21%. 38 of Seoul's 63 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of arrests ran at about 5 times the usual rate (17 stories). Hunger was named in 17 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual.

Disasters & accidents

Spain

282 of its 684 stories (41%) were about people being harmed, usually 21%. Reports of people killed ran at about 6 times the usual rate (231 stories). Drought was named in 31 of its stories about harm, about 8 times usual.

Disasters & accidents

New Zealand

143 of its 501 stories (29%) were about people being harmed, usually 19%. Reports of abductions ran at more than ten times the usual rate (7 stories). Hypothermia was named in 21 of its stories about harm, about 5 times usual, with snowstorms.

Also named far more than usual: flooding in Armenia (34 of its stories, about three times its usual); hunger in South Korea (17 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); hypothermia in New Zealand (21 of its stories, about 5 times its usual); flooding in Thailand (10 of its stories, about three times its usual); tornadoes in Canada (74 of its stories, more than ten times its usual).

20 in 100 stories were about harm

usually 20; 18 the day before
23 in 10016 in 1006 Jul13 Jul20 Jul27 Jul4 Aug6 Jul: 21 in 1007 Jul: 23 in 1008 Jul: 23 in 1009 Jul: 20 in 10010 Jul: 19 in 10011 Jul: 19 in 10012 Jul: 19 in 10013 Jul: 21 in 10014 Jul: 22 in 10015 Jul: 21 in 10016 Jul: 17 in 10017 Jul: 18 in 10018 Jul: 16 in 10019 Jul: 17 in 10020 Jul: 19 in 10021 Jul: 19 in 10022 Jul: 21 in 10023 Jul: 20 in 10024 Jul: 20 in 10025 Jul: 19 in 10026 Jul: 18 in 10027 Jul: 18 in 10028 Jul: 21 in 10029 Jul: 23 in 10030 Jul: 19 in 10031 Jul: 19 in 1001 Aug: 18 in 1002 Aug: 18 in 1003 Aug: 18 in 1004 Aug: 20 in 100 · this day

Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 4 Aug. 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 23,374 stories about harm among 115,282 counted on 4 Aug.

Read the day's briefing

Reports of people freed or reunited, a sign of help, ran at about twice the usual rate. 20 in every 100 of the day's 115,282 news stories were about people being harmed, as usual. In Iran, 67% of the news was about people being harmed, where 32% is usual. On 4 August 2017, a year earlier, the share was 21 in every 100, against 20 today.

Written by code from the day's numbers.

Where it happened

feelings in full →
Feelings Events Harm Warmth
Golan Heights, Syria -- attacks & violence: 34 stories, carried by 39 outlets; harsh wording in 97 in 100Canberra, Australia -- accidents & disasters: 20 stories, carried by 73 outlets; harsh wording in 90 in 100Seoul, South Korea -- protests & strikes: 63 stories, carried by 68 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Peshawar, Pakistan -- attacks & violence: 45 stories, carried by 44 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Jeddah, Saudi Arabia -- attacks & violence: 45 stories, carried by 46 outlets; harsh wording in 96 in 100Idlib, Syria -- attacks & violence: 48 stories, carried by 53 outlets; harsh wording in 98 in 100Petersburg, Russia -- protests & strikes: 71 stories, carried by 75 outlets; harsh wording in 99 in 100French River, Canada -- people displaced: 12 stories, carried by 48 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Alonsa, Canada -- accidents & disasters: 47 stories, carried by 53 outlets; harsh wording in 91 in 100Karelia, Finland -- deaths, cause not given: 55 stories, carried by 69 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Glasgow, UK -- protests & strikes: 64 stories, carried by 126 outlets; harsh wording in 95 in 100Tehran, Iran -- protests & strikes: 594 stories, carried by 173 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Copenhagen, Denmark -- protests & strikes: 97 stories, carried by 142 outlets; harsh wording in 99 in 100Lisbon, Portugal -- accidents & disasters: 113 stories, carried by 109 outlets; harsh wording in 97 in 100Kabul, Afghanistan -- attacks & violence: 95 stories, carried by 145 outlets; harsh wording in 96 in 100Coniston Water, UK -- accidents & disasters: 79 stories, carried by 164 outlets; harsh wording in 85 in 100Badajoz, Spain -- accidents & disasters: 58 stories, carried by 142 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Dhaka, Bangladesh -- protests & strikes: 236 stories, carried by 188 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Barcelona, Spain -- accidents & disasters: 68 stories, carried by 186 outlets; harsh wording in 99 in 100Moscow, Russia -- deaths, cause not given: 372 stories, carried by 551 outlets; harsh wording in 99 in 100Pyongyang, North Korea -- attacks & violence: 205 stories, carried by 300 outlets; harsh wording in 95 in 100Harare, Zimbabwe -- protests & strikes: 390 stories, carried by 428 outlets; harsh wording in 97 in 100Portland, US -- protests & strikes: 321 stories, carried by 356 outlets; harsh wording in 99 in 100Redding, US -- accidents & disasters: 256 stories, carried by 508 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100
Attacks & violenceAccidents & disastersPeople displacedDeaths, cause not givenProtests & strikesDisease & outbreaks

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.

The day in three measures

How it felt 30 days →

harshwarm

The words in the day's stories were harsher than usual. Filled dot: today. Ring: usual.

● Angerabout as usual
● Warmthabout as usual
● Griefabout as usual
● Fearabout as usual

From the words reporters used across the whole day, never one story. Fear is the weakest of the four measures. How?

The weekly briefing · 19 Oct – 25 Oct

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How to read these numbers →

These are counts of stories, not counts of suffering. Most of what happens to people is never reported at all.