← 20 Dec Saturday 21 December 2019 · to 23:59 UTC 22 Dec →
What the world's news said happened to people.
Counts of coverage, not of suffering
12,048 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 →

A disaster in Sydney, protests in Delhi (India) and violence in Tegucigalpa drew the news. India's coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's. Everywhere we counted, the words were harsher than usual.

Help and hope: reports of volunteers ran at about twice the usual rate →
Part of lifeRights & justice 34 in 100 of the stories about harm · more than usual Country that rose mostAustralia 38 in 100 of its 1,238 stories, usually 21
RegionCentral Asia 31 in 100 of its stories, usually 14
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 →
Disasters & accidents

Australia

471 of its 1,238 stories (38%) were about people being harmed, usually 21%. Sydney accounted for 236 of Australia's 471 stories about harm, carried by 573 outlets. Reports of people injured ran at about three times the usual rate (47 stories). Road crashes were named in 39 of its stories about harm, about 8 times usual, with heatstroke.

Protests & strikes

India

1,545 of its 4,379 stories (35%) were about people being harmed, usually 23%. 442 of Delhi's 518 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of arrests ran at about twice the usual rate (547 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's.

Conflict & violence

Honduras

18 of its 25 stories (72%) were about people being harmed, usually 40%. Tegucigalpa accounted for 12 of Honduras' 18 stories about harm, carried by 72 outlets. Reports of people injured ran at about 5 times the usual rate (15 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's.

Deaths & injuries, cause not given

Guatemala

21 of its 26 stories (81%) were about people being harmed, usually 35%. Reports of people injured ran at about 7 times the usual rate (8 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's.

6 more places the news pointed at
Protests & strikes

Hong Kong

40 of its 74 stories (54%) were about people being harmed, usually 37%. Yuen Long accounted for 21 of Hong Kong's 40 stories about harm, carried by 50 outlets. 21 of Yuen Long's 21 stories were about protests or strikes. Its coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's.

Conflict & violence

Mali

18 of its 22 stories (82%) were about people being harmed, usually 36%. Reports of abductions ran at more than ten times the usual rate (7 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.

Disasters & accidents

Portugal

14 of its 55 stories (25%) were about people being harmed, usually 9%. Reports of evacuations ran at more than ten times the usual rate (7 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's.

Protests & strikes

Rwanda

14 of its 22 stories (64%) were about people being harmed, usually 36%. 4 of Mataba's 8 stories were about protests or strikes. Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's.

Health

Jordan

Reports of people killed ran at about three times the usual rate (13 stories). Heatstroke was named in 12 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual, with poisoning. Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's.

Protests & strikes

Iraq

9 of Baghdad's 10 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of arrests ran at about three times the usual rate (5 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's.

Also named far more than usual: heatstroke in Jordan (12 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); helicopter crash in France (25 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); flooding in Spain (13 of its stories, about three times its usual); illness in Lebanon (11 of its stories, about 6 times its usual); heavy rain in UK (56 of its stories, about three times its usual).

19 in 100 stories were about harm

usually 18; 17 the day before
21 in 10016 in 10022 Nov29 Nov6 Dec13 Dec21 Dec22 Nov: 16 in 10023 Nov: 17 in 10024 Nov: 19 in 10025 Nov: 17 in 10026 Nov: 18 in 10027 Nov: 18 in 10028 Nov: 18 in 10029 Nov: 17 in 10030 Nov: 20 in 1001 Dec: 21 in 1002 Dec: 18 in 1003 Dec: 17 in 1004 Dec: 16 in 1005 Dec: 17 in 1006 Dec: 18 in 1007 Dec: 20 in 1008 Dec: 19 in 1009 Dec: 18 in 10010 Dec: 18 in 10011 Dec: 18 in 10012 Dec: 17 in 10013 Dec: 16 in 10014 Dec: 18 in 10015 Dec: 19 in 10016 Dec: 17 in 10017 Dec: 17 in 10018 Dec: 17 in 10019 Dec: 17 in 10020 Dec: 17 in 10021 Dec: 19 in 100 · this day

Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 21 Dec. 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 12,048 stories about harm among 62,231 counted on 21 Dec.

Read the day's briefing

Jordan's news mentioned the heatstroke more than ten times as often as usual. Help and hope: reports of volunteers ran at about twice the usual rate. In Australia, 38% of the news was about people being harmed, where 21% is usual. Stories about people being harmed made up 19 in every 100 of the day's 62,231 stories, above the usual 18.

Written by code from the day's numbers.

Where it happened

feelings in full →
Feelings Events Harm Warmth
Tripoli, Libya -- attacks & violence: 19 stories, carried by 26 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Rogers Pass, Canada -- accidents & disasters: 11 stories, carried by 21 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Madrid, Spain -- accidents & disasters: 23 stories, carried by 33 outlets; harsh wording in 96 in 100Paris, France -- attacks & violence: 60 stories, carried by 96 outlets; harsh wording in 80 in 100Beijing, China -- protests & strikes: 43 stories, carried by 59 outlets; harsh wording in 93 in 100Kabul, Afghanistan -- attacks & violence: 34 stories, carried by 59 outlets; harsh wording in 88 in 100Xinjiang, China -- protests & strikes: 19 stories, carried by 60 outlets; harsh wording in 89 in 100Moscow, Russia -- protests & strikes: 82 stories, carried by 74 outlets; harsh wording in 96 in 100Adelaide, Australia -- accidents & disasters: 42 stories, carried by 41 outlets; harsh wording in 98 in 100Berlin, Germany -- attacks & violence: 25 stories, carried by 111 outlets; harsh wording in 92 in 100Yuen Long, Hong Kong -- protests & strikes: 21 stories, carried by 50 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Tegucigalpa, Honduras -- attacks & violence: 12 stories, carried by 72 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Beirut, Lebanon -- protests & strikes: 24 stories, carried by 68 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Jerusalem, Israel -- attacks & violence: 42 stories, carried by 140 outlets; harsh wording in 93 in 100Idlib, Syria -- attacks & violence: 64 stories, carried by 114 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Wellington, New Zealand -- attacks & violence: 21 stories, carried by 208 outlets; harsh wording in 86 in 100Tartous, Syria -- attacks & violence: 11 stories, carried by 93 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100London, UK -- accidents & disasters: 202 stories, carried by 427 outlets; harsh wording in 78 in 100Sussex, UK -- accidents & disasters: 27 stories, carried by 170 outlets; harsh wording in 93 in 100Nevada, US -- accidents & disasters: 14 stories, carried by 241 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Las Vegas, US -- accidents & disasters: 47 stories, carried by 241 outlets; harsh wording in 98 in 100Delhi, India -- protests & strikes: 518 stories, carried by 322 outlets; harsh wording in 97 in 100Uttar Pradesh, India -- protests & strikes: 14 stories, carried by 361 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Sydney, Australia -- accidents & disasters: 236 stories, carried by 573 outlets; harsh wording in 97 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.