← 22 May Thursday 23 May 2019 · to 23:59 UTC 24 May →
What the world's news said happened to people.
Counts of coverage, not of suffering
37,278 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 Jakarta (Indonesia) and violence in Tehran and Gaza drew the news. Chile's coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's. Over the whole world, the tone was softer than usual.

Help and hope: reports of people freed or reunited ran at about one and a half times the usual rate →
Part of lifeRights & justice 27 in 100 of the stories about harm · about as usual Country that rose mostIndonesia 66 in 100 of its 613 stories, usually 38
RegionNorth America 25 in 100 of its stories, usually 23
Tone of the words Softer than usual across the world's stories about harm

What the world's news was about today

how these are picked →
Protests & strikes

Indonesia

402 of its 613 stories (66%) were about people being harmed, usually 38%. Jakarta accounted for 365 of Indonesia's 402 stories about harm, carried by 299 outlets. 340 of Jakarta's 365 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of people injured ran at about 6 times the usual rate (129 stories).

Conflict & violence

Iran

694 of its 1,501 stories (46%) were about people being harmed, usually 31%. Tehran accounted for 614 of Iran's 694 stories about harm, carried by 581 outlets. Reports of evacuations ran at more than ten times the usual rate (90 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's.

Rights & justice

Palestine

493 of its 857 stories (58%) were about people being harmed, usually 42%. Gaza accounted for 329 of Palestine's 493 stories about harm, carried by 142 outlets. Reports of refugees ran at about 4 times the usual rate (139 stories). Warmth in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.

Health

Chile

55 of its 165 stories (33%) were about people being harmed, usually 18%. Reports of people killed ran at about 6 times the usual rate (48 stories). Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's.

6 more places the news pointed at
Protests & strikes

El Salvador

21 of its 27 stories (78%) were about people being harmed, usually 28%. 6 of el Mozote's 7 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of arrests ran at about three times the usual rate (7 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's.

Protests & strikes

Belarus

29 of its 138 stories (21%) were about people being harmed, usually 9%. 3 of Minsk's 4 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of people killed ran at about 6 times the usual rate (25 stories). Its coverage was about three times as grief-stricken as the world's.

Conflict & violence

Syria

248 of its 317 stories (78%) were about people being harmed, usually 71%. Idlib accounted for 162 of Syria's 248 stories about harm, carried by 157 outlets. Reports of abductions ran at about twice the usual rate (7 stories). Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.

Conflict & violence

Central African Republic

57 of its 64 stories (89%) were about people being harmed, usually 48%. Reports of people killed ran at about three times the usual rate (52 stories). Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.

Conflict & violence

Somalia

137 of its 177 stories (77%) were about people being harmed, usually 50%. Reports of people injured ran at about three times the usual rate (51 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's.

Rights & justice

Botswana

115 of its 283 stories (41%) were about people being harmed, usually 12%. Reports of people killed ran at about 9 times the usual rate (93 stories).

Also named far more than usual: malaria in Algeria (21 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); wildfires in Puerto Rico (21 of its stories, about 4 times its usual); hiv in Kenya (37 of its stories, about 6 times its usual); tuberculosis in Bulgaria (11 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); tornadoes in US (2758 of its stories, about 8 times its usual).

19 in 100 stories were about harm

usually 19; 18 the day before
23 in 10018 in 10024 Apr1 May8 May15 May23 May24 Apr: 20 in 10025 Apr: 20 in 10026 Apr: 19 in 10027 Apr: 20 in 10028 Apr: 23 in 10029 Apr: 21 in 10030 Apr: 20 in 1001 May: 20 in 1002 May: 19 in 1003 May: 21 in 1004 May: 21 in 1005 May: 21 in 1006 May: 20 in 1007 May: 19 in 1008 May: 19 in 1009 May: 18 in 10010 May: 18 in 10011 May: 19 in 10012 May: 20 in 10013 May: 18 in 10014 May: 19 in 10015 May: 18 in 10016 May: 19 in 10017 May: 19 in 10018 May: 18 in 10019 May: 18 in 10020 May: 18 in 10021 May: 18 in 10022 May: 18 in 10023 May: 19 in 100 · this day

Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 23 May. 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 37,278 stories about harm among 197,939 counted on 23 May.

Read the day's briefing

It was the third day running that the news turned to Indonesia. of the day's 197,939 news stories, 19 in every 100 were about people being harmed, as usual. Reports of people freed or reunited, a sign of help, ran at about one and a half times the usual rate. Indonesia's news was 66% about people being harmed, against a usual 38%. A year earlier, on 23 May 2018, 19 in every 100 stories were about people being harmed, the same as today.

Written by code from the day's numbers.

Where it happened

feelings in full →
Feelings Events Harm Warmth
Mogadishu, Somalia -- attacks & violence: 37 stories, carried by 33 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Baghdad, Iraq -- attacks & violence: 60 stories, carried by 55 outlets; harsh wording in 95 in 100Colombo, Sri Lanka -- attacks & violence: 65 stories, carried by 50 outlets; harsh wording in 97 in 100Chobe National Park, Botswana -- deaths, cause not given: 24 stories, carried by 52 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Pulwama, Kashmir -- attacks & violence: 46 stories, carried by 32 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Islamabad, Pakistan -- attacks & violence: 145 stories, carried by 82 outlets; harsh wording in 91 in 100Nairobi, Kenya -- protests & strikes: 84 stories, carried by 74 outlets; harsh wording in 82 in 100Bangui, Central African Republic -- attacks & violence: 35 stories, carried by 37 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Riyadh, Saudi Arabia -- attacks & violence: 51 stories, carried by 92 outlets; harsh wording in 88 in 100Slave Lake, Canada -- accidents & disasters: 24 stories, carried by 63 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Gaza, Palestine -- attacks & violence: 329 stories, carried by 142 outlets; harsh wording in 99 in 100Tripoli, Libya -- attacks & violence: 69 stories, carried by 61 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Ouistreham, France -- accidents & disasters: 49 stories, carried by 80 outlets; harsh wording in 98 in 100Shabelle, Somalia -- attacks & violence: 27 stories, carried by 63 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Ayodhya, India -- attacks & violence: 23 stories, carried by 90 outlets; harsh wording in 83 in 100Caribbean Sea, Belize -- accidents & disasters: 6 stories, carried by 78 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Battleford, Canada -- attacks & violence: 10 stories, carried by 85 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Idlib, Syria -- attacks & violence: 162 stories, carried by 157 outlets; harsh wording in 98 in 100Omaha Beach, France -- accidents & disasters: 212 stories, carried by 230 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100New Delhi, India -- attacks & violence: 510 stories, carried by 367 outlets; harsh wording in 61 in 100Jakarta, Indonesia -- protests & strikes: 365 stories, carried by 299 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Tehran, Iran -- attacks & violence: 614 stories, carried by 581 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Terre Haute, US -- attacks & violence: 385 stories, carried by 597 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Jefferson City, US -- accidents & disasters: 1,665 stories, carried by 1,076 outlets; harsh wording in 99 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 softer 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?

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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.