← 17 Mar Wednesday 18 March 2020 · to 23:59 UTC 19 Mar →
What the world's news said happened to people.
Counts of coverage, not of suffering
52,159 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 →

Illness in Tehran and Baghdad and protests in Algiers (Algeria) drew the news. Iraq's coverage was about three times as angry as the world's. Language across the world's news ran 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 55 in 100 of its 577 stories, usually 24
RegionNorth America 45 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

Iran

383 of its 501 stories (76%) were about people being harmed, usually 63%. Tehran accounted for 174 of Iran's 383 stories about harm, carried by 252 outlets. Reports of evacuations ran at about three times the usual rate (22 stories). Its coverage was about three times as grief-stricken as the world's.

Conflict & violence

Iraq

Baghdad accounted for 75 of Iraq's 126 stories about harm, carried by 260 outlets. Reports of people affected ran at about twice the usual rate (10 stories). Its coverage was about three times as angry as the world's.

6 more places the news pointed at
Health

Philippines

617 of its 934 stories (66%) were about people being harmed, usually 43%. Manila accounted for 255 of the Philippines' 617 stories about harm, carried by 117 outlets. Reports of people killed ran at about twice the usual rate (218 stories).

Health

UK

4,025 of its 9,000 stories (45%) were about people being harmed, usually 26%. Tsunami was named in 14 of its stories about harm, about 4 times usual. Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.

Health

Pakistan

415 of its 745 stories (56%) were about people being harmed, usually 38%. Reports of abductions ran at about twice the usual rate (6 stories). Flu was named in 17 of its stories about harm, about three times usual.

Health

Malaysia

299 of its 729 stories (41%) were about people being harmed, usually 24%. Reports of people killed ran at about 5 times the usual rate (104 stories). Tsunami was named in 16 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual.

Health

Libya

38 of its 52 stories (73%) were about people being harmed, usually 43%. Reports of refugees ran at about 4 times the usual rate (6 stories). Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.

Health

Israel

337 of its 700 stories (48%) were about people being harmed, usually 39%. Reports of arrests ran at about three times the usual rate (44 stories). HIV was named in 22 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual.

Also named far more than usual: ebola in Uganda (11 of its stories, about 5 times its usual); hiv in Israel (22 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); tsunami in Malaysia (16 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); flu in Pakistan (17 of its stories, about three times its usual); tuberculosis in South Africa (20 of its stories, about three times its usual).

39 in 100 stories were about harm

usually 26; 38 the day before
39 in 10020 in 10018 Feb25 Feb3 Mar10 Mar18 Mar18 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 10018 Mar: 39 in 100 · this day

Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 18 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 52,159 stories about harm among 133,496 counted on 18 Mar.

Read the day's briefing

39 in every 100 of the day's 133,496 news stories were about people being harmed, above the usual 26. No day had a higher share of stories about people being harmed in all 1539 days held. Reports of volunteers, a sign of help, ran at about one and a half times the usual rate. It was the second day running that the news turned to Iran.

Written by code from the day's numbers.

Where it happened

feelings in full →
Feelings Events Harm Warmth
Afrin, Syria -- attacks & violence: 6 stories, carried by 7 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Najaf, Iraq -- protests & strikes: 6 stories, carried by 6 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Jordan Valley, Israel -- attacks & violence: 6 stories, carried by 6 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Onitsha, Nigeria -- deaths, cause not given: 8 stories, carried by 5 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Darfur, Sudan -- people displaced: 10 stories, carried by 7 outlets; harsh wording in 90 in 100Grand River, Canada -- deaths, cause not given: 5 stories, carried by 8 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Muzaffarpur, India -- protests & strikes: 7 stories, carried by 7 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Freetown, Sierra Leone -- protests & strikes: 5 stories, carried by 9 outlets; harsh wording in 80 in 100Jawf, Yemen -- attacks & violence: 7 stories, carried by 6 outlets; harsh wording in 86 in 100Kampala, Uganda -- disease & outbreaks: 17 stories, carried by 15 outlets; harsh wording in 88 in 100Masaka, Uganda -- disease & outbreaks: 6 stories, carried by 5 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Kostenki, Russia -- accidents & disasters: 6 stories, carried by 6 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Marib, Yemen -- attacks & violence: 6 stories, carried by 7 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Mawla, Iraq -- attacks & violence: 7 stories, carried by 7 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Khuzdar, Pakistan -- accidents & disasters: 5 stories, carried by 8 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Nadda, India -- protests & strikes: 14 stories, carried by 17 outlets; harsh wording in 86 in 100Algiers, Algeria -- protests & strikes: 11 stories, carried by 16 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Mashhad, Iran -- protests & strikes: 17 stories, carried by 28 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Lismore, Australia -- protests & strikes: 13 stories, carried by 30 outlets; harsh wording in 85 in 100Datta Khel, Pakistan -- attacks & violence: 14 stories, carried by 23 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Idlib, Syria -- attacks & violence: 44 stories, carried by 48 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Salt Lake, US -- accidents & disasters: 45 stories, carried by 81 outlets; harsh wording in 93 in 100Kastanies, Greece -- attacks & violence: 6 stories, carried by 75 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Salt Lake City, US -- accidents & disasters: 201 stories, carried by 330 outlets; harsh wording in 92 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
● Warmtha little more than usual
● Griefabout two-thirds of 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.