← 16 Mar Tuesday 17 March 2020 · to 23:59 UTC 18 Mar →
What the world's news said happened to people.
Counts of coverage, not of suffering
48,936 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 →

Most of the day's attention went to people injured in Italy, refugees in Libya and a disaster in Greenland. Iran's coverage was about three times as grief-stricken as the world's. Taken together, the world's news read much softer than usual.

Help and hope: reports of volunteers ran at about one and a half times the usual rate →
Part of lifeHealth 86 in 100 of the stories about harm · much more than usual Country that rose mostGhana 53 in 100 of its 532 stories, usually 22
RegionNorth America 44 in 100 of its stories, usually 27
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 →
Health

Italy

671 of its 1,281 stories (52%) were about people being harmed, usually 46%. Reports of people injured ran at about twice the usual rate (17 stories). Plague was named in 32 of its stories about harm, about three times usual. Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's. Warmth in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.

Conflict & violence

Libya

33 of its 58 stories (57%) were about people being harmed, usually 43%. Reports of refugees ran at about 4 times the usual rate (5 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.

Health

Iran

354 of its 515 stories (69%) were about people being harmed, usually 63%. Tehran accounted for 191 of Iran's 354 stories about harm, carried by 359 outlets. Reports of arrests ran at about 4 times the usual rate (50 stories). Its coverage was about three times as grief-stricken as the world's.

6 more places the news pointed at
Health

Philippines

612 of its 872 stories (70%) were about people being harmed, usually 42%. Manila accounted for 249 of the Philippines' 612 stories about harm, carried by 98 outlets. Reports of people killed ran at about twice the usual rate (219 stories).

Health

Spain

375 of its 793 stories (47%) were about people being harmed, usually 22%. Reports of people falling ill ran at about 9 times the usual rate (8 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's.

Health

UK

3,854 of its 8,825 stories (44%) were about people being harmed, usually 25%. Hepatitis was named in 37 of its stories about harm, about 5 times usual. Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.

Health

Lebanon

70 of its 147 stories (48%) were about people being harmed, usually 28%. Reports of people injured ran at about 5 times the usual rate (12 stories). Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.

Health

Ireland

468 of its 1,438 stories (33%) were about people being harmed, usually 23%. Reports of abductions ran at about three times the usual rate (7 stories). Hunger was named in 12 of its stories about harm, about 4 times usual.

Health

Belgium

82 of its 163 stories (50%) were about people being harmed, usually 26%. Brussels accounted for 56 of Belgium's 82 stories about harm, carried by 63 outlets.

Also named far more than usual: plague in Austria (11 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); extreme cold in Russia (19 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); gas explosion in Nigeria (14 of its stories, about 5 times its usual); hunger in Ireland (12 of its stories, about 4 times its usual); hiv in Australia (22 of its stories, about three times its usual).

38 in 100 stories were about harm

usually 26; 37 the day before
38 in 10020 in 10017 Feb24 Feb2 Mar9 Mar17 Mar17 Feb: 21 in 10018 Feb: 20 in 10019 Feb: 20 in 10020 Feb: 20 in 10021 Feb: 20 in 10022 Feb: 21 in 10023 Feb: 21 in 10024 Feb: 21 in 10025 Feb: 22 in 10026 Feb: 22 in 10027 Feb: 23 in 10028 Feb: 24 in 10029 Feb: 26 in 1001 Mar: 25 in 1002 Mar: 24 in 1003 Mar: 25 in 1004 Mar: 25 in 1005 Mar: 25 in 1006 Mar: 26 in 1007 Mar: 27 in 1008 Mar: 28 in 1009 Mar: 27 in 10010 Mar: 28 in 10011 Mar: 29 in 10012 Mar: 31 in 10013 Mar: 33 in 10014 Mar: 36 in 10015 Mar: 37 in 10016 Mar: 37 in 10017 Mar: 38 in 100 · this day

Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 17 Mar. 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 48,936 stories about harm among 128,027 counted on 17 Mar.

Read the day's briefing

Stories about people being harmed made up 38 in every 100 of the day's 128,027 stories, above the usual 26. It was the highest share of stories about people being harmed in all 1538 days held. In Austria's news, mentions of the plague ran more than ten times their usual. Reports of volunteers, a sign of help, ran at about one and a half times the usual rate.

Written by code from the day's numbers.

Where it happened

feelings in full →
Feelings Events Harm Warmth
Nelspruit, South Africa -- attacks & violence: 6 stories, carried by 6 outlets; harsh wording in 83 in 100Mogadishu, Somalia -- attacks & violence: 13 stories, carried by 9 outlets; harsh wording in 46 in 100Alicante, Spain -- attacks & violence: 7 stories, carried by 4 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Bamako, Mali -- attacks & violence: 7 stories, carried by 8 outlets; harsh wording in 43 in 100Alexandria, Egypt -- attacks & violence: 6 stories, carried by 6 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Niger Delta, Nigeria -- protests & strikes: 6 stories, carried by 7 outlets; harsh wording in 67 in 100Cratloe, Ireland -- accidents & disasters: 11 stories, carried by 9 outlets; harsh wording in 82 in 100Luanda, Angola -- attacks & violence: 5 stories, carried by 7 outlets; harsh wording in 80 in 100Sierra Nevada, US -- accidents & disasters: 7 stories, carried by 7 outlets; harsh wording in 86 in 100Dennilton, South Africa -- deaths, cause not given: 5 stories, carried by 6 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Kasokoso, Uganda -- accidents & disasters: 7 stories, carried by 7 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Edirne, Türkiye -- people displaced: 5 stories, carried by 5 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Tarash, Bangladesh -- deaths, cause not given: 7 stories, carried by 8 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Pattani, Thailand -- attacks & violence: 6 stories, carried by 6 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Lesbos, Greece -- people displaced: 10 stories, carried by 17 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Qaim, Iraq -- attacks & violence: 7 stories, carried by 10 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Darfur, Sudan -- people displaced: 9 stories, carried by 14 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Marib, Yemen -- attacks & violence: 5 stories, carried by 18 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Vienna, Austria -- disease & outbreaks: 33 stories, carried by 32 outlets; harsh wording in 82 in 100Grimari, Central African Republic -- attacks & violence: 8 stories, carried by 24 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Idlib, Syria -- people displaced: 41 stories, carried by 59 outlets; harsh wording in 98 in 100Iditarod, US -- protests & strikes: 38 stories, carried by 60 outlets; harsh wording in 92 in 100Kostenki, Russia -- accidents & disasters: 22 stories, carried by 71 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Baghdad, Iraq -- attacks & violence: 103 stories, carried by 180 outlets; harsh wording in 98 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 half usual
● Warmthabout as usual
● Griefabout half 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.