← 12 Feb Thursday 13 February 2020 · to 23:59 UTC 14 Feb →
What the world's news said happened to people.
Counts of coverage, not of suffering
24,737 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 Darfur, illness in Phnom Penh and rights and justice in Senegal. Sudan's coverage was about twice as fearful as the world's. Over the whole world, the tone was much softer than usual.

Part of lifeHealth 41 in 100 of the stories about harm · more than usual Country that rose mostSudan 71 in 100 of its 148 stories, usually 48
RegionEast Asia 55 in 100 of its stories, usually 51
Tone of the words Much softer than usual across the world's stories about harm

What the world's news was about today

how these are picked →
Conflict & violence

Sudan

105 of its 148 stories (71%) were about people being harmed, usually 48%. Darfur accounted for 61 of Sudan's 105 stories about harm, carried by 414 outlets. Reports of people injured ran at about 4 times the usual rate (44 stories). Its coverage was about twice as fearful as the world's.

6 more places the news pointed at
Health

Indonesia

142 of its 303 stories (47%) were about people being harmed, usually 33%. Reports of evacuations ran at about three times the usual rate (12 stories). Volcanic eruption was named in 20 of its stories about harm, about 6 times usual.

Conflict & violence

Syria

Idlib accounted for 134 of Syria's 215 stories about harm, carried by 135 outlets. Drownings were named in 13 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual. Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's.

Health

North Korea

44 of its 81 stories (54%) were about people being harmed, usually 27%. Pyongyang accounted for 38 of North Korea's 44 stories about harm, carried by 45 outlets.

Health

Singapore

152 of its 378 stories (40%) were about people being harmed, usually 27%. Reports of people falling ill ran at more than ten times the usual rate (8 stories).

Health

Japan

377 of its 1,383 stories (27%) were about people being harmed, usually 18%. Reports of people injured ran at about three times the usual rate (16 stories).

Health

Taiwan

66 of its 149 stories (44%) were about people being harmed, usually 32%. Reports of people affected ran at about twice the usual rate (11 stories).

Also named far more than usual: illness in Iran (44 of its stories, about 5 times its usual); natural hazards in Uganda (20 of its stories, about 4 times its usual); flooding in Zimbabwe (14 of its stories, about 4 times its usual); cyclone in Australia (82 of its stories, about 4 times its usual); volcanic eruption in Indonesia (20 of its stories, about 6 times its usual).

20 in 100 stories were about harm

usually 20; 20 the day before
23 in 10017 in 10015 Jan22 Jan29 Jan5 Feb13 Feb15 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 1002 Feb: 23 in 1003 Feb: 21 in 1004 Feb: 21 in 1005 Feb: 20 in 1006 Feb: 21 in 1007 Feb: 21 in 1008 Feb: 22 in 1009 Feb: 23 in 10010 Feb: 21 in 10011 Feb: 20 in 10012 Feb: 20 in 10013 Feb: 20 in 100 · this day

Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 13 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 24,737 stories about harm among 124,911 counted on 13 Feb.

Read the day's briefing

The news turned to Sudan for the third day running. 20 in every 100 of the day's 124,911 news stories were about people being harmed, as usual. In Zimbabwe's news, mentions of flooding ran about 4 times their usual. Sudan stood out: 71% of its news was about people being harmed, usually 48%. A year earlier, on 13 February 2019, 18 in every 100 stories were about people being harmed, against 20 today.

Written by code from the day's numbers.

Where it happened

feelings in full →
Feelings Events Harm Warmth
Mer de Glace, France -- protests & strikes: 8 stories, carried by 33 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Kidal, Mali -- attacks & violence: 6 stories, carried by 25 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Lucknow, India -- attacks & violence: 58 stories, carried by 46 outlets; harsh wording in 97 in 100Moscow, Russia -- attacks & violence: 58 stories, carried by 111 outlets; harsh wording in 88 in 100Khartoum, Sudan -- attacks & violence: 22 stories, carried by 42 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Dresden, Germany -- attacks & violence: 21 stories, carried by 32 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Kirkuk, Iraq -- attacks & violence: 15 stories, carried by 30 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Maiduguri, Nigeria -- attacks & violence: 90 stories, carried by 39 outlets; harsh wording in 99 in 100Merapi, Indonesia -- accidents & disasters: 15 stories, carried by 32 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Lahore, Pakistan -- attacks & violence: 63 stories, carried by 53 outlets; harsh wording in 97 in 100Kabul, Afghanistan -- attacks & violence: 41 stories, carried by 52 outlets; harsh wording in 90 in 100Tripoli, Libya -- attacks & violence: 52 stories, carried by 66 outlets; harsh wording in 98 in 100Damascus, Syria -- attacks & violence: 45 stories, carried by 55 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Baghdad, Iraq -- attacks & violence: 58 stories, carried by 84 outlets; harsh wording in 83 in 100Bateman Bay, Australia -- protests & strikes: 5 stories, carried by 53 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Northern Ireland, UK -- attacks & violence: 99 stories, carried by 242 outlets; harsh wording in 85 in 100El Paso, US -- attacks & violence: 31 stories, carried by 165 outlets; harsh wording in 97 in 100Morgan County, US -- accidents & disasters: 13 stories, carried by 94 outlets; harsh wording in 92 in 100Tibu, Colombia -- attacks & violence: 8 stories, carried by 93 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Idlib, Syria -- attacks & violence: 134 stories, carried by 135 outlets; harsh wording in 99 in 100Sydney, Australia -- accidents & disasters: 153 stories, carried by 250 outlets; harsh wording in 86 in 100Londonderry, UK -- protests & strikes: 17 stories, carried by 156 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Darfur, Sudan -- attacks & violence: 61 stories, carried by 414 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Tehran, Iran -- attacks & violence: 102 stories, carried by 311 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 much 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?

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.