← 31 Jan Saturday 1 February 2020 · to 23:59 UTC 2 Feb →
What the world's news said happened to people.
Counts of coverage, not of suffering
14,679 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 →

The news turned to violence in Idlib, illness in Wuhan and people injured in South Africa. Syria's coverage was about three times as angry as the world's. Everywhere we counted, the words were softer than usual.

Reports of evacuations ran at about three times the usual rate, most often about China and India → Help and hope: reports of aid and relief ran at about twice the usual rate →
Part of lifeHealth 45 in 100 of the stories about harm · much more than usual Country that rose mostChina 74 in 100 of its 3,752 stories, usually 46
RegionEast Asia 65 in 100 of its stories, usually 37
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 →
Conflict & violence

Syria

84 of its 111 stories (76%) were about people being harmed, usually 64%. Idlib accounted for 52 of Syria's 84 stories about harm, carried by 78 outlets. Reports of refugees ran at about twice the usual rate (27 stories). Its coverage was about three times as angry as the world's.

Health

China

2,777 of its 3,752 stories (74%) were about people being harmed, usually 46%. Wuhan accounted for 1,639 of China's 2,777 stories about harm, carried by 1,714 outlets. Reports of evacuations ran at about 6 times the usual rate (362 stories).

Rights & justice

South Africa

104 of its 352 stories (30%) were about people being harmed, usually 22%. Reports of people injured ran at about twice the usual rate (11 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's. Anger in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.

6 more places the news pointed at
Conflict & violence

Iran

Tehran accounted for 47 of Iran's 93 stories about harm, carried by 57 outlets. Reports of arrests ran at about three times the usual rate (11 stories). Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.

Rights & justice

Maldives

27 of its 52 stories (52%) were about people being harmed, usually 12%. Its coverage was about one and a half times as warm as the world's.

Health

Vietnam

60 of its 142 stories (42%) were about people being harmed, usually 18%. Reports of people killed ran at about twice the usual rate (23 stories).

Rights & justice

Belarus

25 of its 55 stories (45%) were about people being harmed, usually 11%. Minsk accounted for 24 of Belarus' 25 stories about harm, carried by 113 outlets.

Health

Taiwan

29 of its 64 stories (45%) were about people being harmed, usually 21%. Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.

Health

South Korea

44 of its 168 stories (26%) were about people being harmed, usually 13%. Reports of arrests ran at about 5 times the usual rate (8 stories).

Also named far more than usual: flooding in Canada (55 of its stories, about three times its usual); heatwave in Australia (37 of its stories, about 4 times its usual); natural hazards in Japan (12 of its stories, about 4 times its usual); natural hazards in Pakistan (11 of its stories, about 6 times its usual); malaria in Nigeria (15 of its stories, about three times its usual).

21 in 100 stories were about harm

usually 20; 21 the day before
24 in 10017 in 1003 Jan10 Jan17 Jan24 Jan1 Feb3 Jan: 21 in 1004 Jan: 23 in 1005 Jan: 24 in 1006 Jan: 20 in 1007 Jan: 20 in 1008 Jan: 21 in 1009 Jan: 20 in 10010 Jan: 21 in 10011 Jan: 23 in 10012 Jan: 22 in 10013 Jan: 19 in 10014 Jan: 19 in 10015 Jan: 18 in 10016 Jan: 17 in 10017 Jan: 18 in 10018 Jan: 20 in 10019 Jan: 20 in 10020 Jan: 18 in 10021 Jan: 19 in 10022 Jan: 18 in 10023 Jan: 19 in 10024 Jan: 20 in 10025 Jan: 21 in 10026 Jan: 22 in 10027 Jan: 20 in 10028 Jan: 20 in 10029 Jan: 20 in 10030 Jan: 20 in 10031 Jan: 21 in 1001 Feb: 21 in 100 · this day

Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 1 Feb. 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 14,679 stories about harm among 69,776 counted on 1 Feb.

Read the day's briefing

Reports of evacuations ran at about three times the usual rate, most often about China and India. 21 in every 100 of the day's 69,776 news stories were about people being harmed, as usual. On the side of help, reports of aid and relief ran at about twice the usual rate. Canada's news mentioned flooding about three times as often as usual. A year earlier, on 1 February 2019, 18 in every 100 stories were about people being harmed, against 21 today. Over January, 20 in every 100 stories were about people being harmed, against 19 in January 2019.

Written by code from the day's numbers.

Where it happened

feelings in full →
Feelings Events Harm Warmth
Cholistan, Pakistan -- accidents & disasters: 6 stories, carried by 12 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Saanich, Canada -- accidents & disasters: 12 stories, carried by 25 outlets; harsh wording in 83 in 100Davos, Switzerland -- protests & strikes: 9 stories, carried by 19 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Cabo Delgado, Mozambique -- attacks & violence: 5 stories, carried by 14 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Tokyo, Japan -- accidents & disasters: 54 stories, carried by 50 outlets; harsh wording in 61 in 100Beirut, Lebanon -- protests & strikes: 13 stories, carried by 34 outlets; harsh wording in 77 in 100Tahrir, Iraq -- protests & strikes: 6 stories, carried by 20 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Cairo, Egypt -- attacks & violence: 31 stories, carried by 52 outlets; harsh wording in 87 in 100Jammu, Kashmir -- attacks & violence: 32 stories, carried by 23 outlets; harsh wording in 97 in 100Tehran, Iran -- attacks & violence: 47 stories, carried by 57 outlets; harsh wording in 96 in 100Tripoli, Libya -- attacks & violence: 10 stories, carried by 21 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Aleppo, Syria -- attacks & violence: 17 stories, carried by 25 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Vancouver, Canada -- accidents & disasters: 54 stories, carried by 60 outlets; harsh wording in 94 in 100Michoacan, Mexico -- protests & strikes: 5 stories, carried by 38 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Dasht-E-Archi, Afghanistan -- attacks & violence: 7 stories, carried by 42 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Sydney, Australia -- accidents & disasters: 75 stories, carried by 119 outlets; harsh wording in 87 in 100Kabul, Afghanistan -- attacks & violence: 30 stories, carried by 58 outlets; harsh wording in 80 in 100Idlib, Syria -- attacks & violence: 52 stories, carried by 78 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Miami, US -- accidents & disasters: 70 stories, carried by 165 outlets; harsh wording in 74 in 100Hennepin County, US -- protests & strikes: 17 stories, carried by 105 outlets; harsh wording in 94 in 100Baghdad, Iraq -- protests & strikes: 87 stories, carried by 150 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Jerusalem, Israel -- attacks & violence: 84 stories, carried by 372 outlets; harsh wording in 95 in 100Marib, Yemen -- attacks & violence: 11 stories, carried by 179 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Canberra, Australia -- accidents & disasters: 68 stories, carried by 346 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 two-thirds of usual
● Warmthabout as usual
● Griefa little less than 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.