← 26 Mar Friday 27 March 2020 · to 23:59 UTC 28 Mar →
What the world's news said happened to people.
Counts of coverage, not of suffering
50,343 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 day's news pointed at illness in Tehran, violence in Kabul and refugees in Burkina Faso. Afghanistan's coverage was about 4 times as angry as the world's. In the world's news as a whole, the wording was much softer than usual.

Help and hope: reports of volunteers ran at about one and a half times the usual rate →
Part of lifeHealth 87 in 100 of the stories about harm · much more than usual Country that rose mostBangladesh 72 in 100 of its 170 stories, usually 44
RegionCentral Asia 47 in 100 of its stories, usually 29
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

265 of its 351 stories (75%) were about people being harmed, usually 67%. Tehran accounted for 144 of Iran's 265 stories about harm, carried by 250 outlets. Reports of people falling ill ran at more than ten times the usual rate (33 stories). Poisoning was named in 44 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual. Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's. Fear in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.

Conflict & violence

Afghanistan

155 of its 193 stories (80%) were about people being harmed, usually 60%. Kabul accounted for 116 of Afghanistan's 155 stories about harm, carried by 139 outlets. Reports of abductions ran at about 4 times the usual rate (6 stories). Its coverage was about 4 times as angry as the world's. Fear in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.

6 more places the news pointed at
Health

South Africa

548 of its 1,129 stories (49%) were about people being harmed, usually 37%. Reports of people killed ran at about three times the usual rate (234 stories). Respiratory illness was named in 25 of its stories about harm, about three times usual, with ebola. Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's.

Health

Sri Lanka

94 of its 176 stories (53%) were about people being harmed, usually 31%. Reports of people displaced ran at more than ten times the usual rate (5 stories). Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.

Health

Nepal

73 of its 108 stories (68%) were about people being harmed, usually 46%. Kathmandu accounted for 48 of Nepal's 73 stories about harm, carried by 87 outlets. Reports of evacuations ran at about 9 times the usual rate (7 stories).

Health

Saudi Arabia

151 of its 250 stories (60%) were about people being harmed, usually 45%. Reports of evacuations ran at about 5 times the usual rate (5 stories). Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.

Health

Venezuela

76 of its 139 stories (55%) were about people being harmed, usually 40%. Reports of arrests ran at about three times the usual rate (29 stories). Flooding was named in 19 of its stories about harm, about 8 times usual.

Health

Spain

412 of its 910 stories (45%) were about people being harmed, usually 35%. Reports of people injured ran at about twice the usual rate (9 stories). Its coverage was about three times as grief-stricken as the world's.

Also named far more than usual: covid in Syria (56 of its stories, about 4 times its usual); flooding in Venezuela (19 of its stories, about 8 times its usual); volcanic eruption in Indonesia (19 of its stories, about 5 times its usual); respiratory illness in South Africa (25 of its stories, about three times its usual); flooding in Japan (15 of its stories, about 5 times its usual).

41 in 100 stories were about harm

usually 32; 41 the day before
43 in 10023 in 10027 Feb5 Mar12 Mar19 Mar27 Mar27 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 10019 Mar: 40 in 10020 Mar: 40 in 10021 Mar: 41 in 10022 Mar: 43 in 10023 Mar: 40 in 10024 Mar: 40 in 10025 Mar: 41 in 10026 Mar: 41 in 10027 Mar: 41 in 100 · this day

Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 27 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 50,343 stories about harm among 123,090 counted on 27 Mar.

Read the day's briefing

41 in every 100 of the day's 123,090 news stories were about people being harmed, above the usual 32. On the side of help, reports of volunteers ran at about one and a half times the usual rate. Syria's news mentioned Covid about 4 times as often as usual. A year earlier, on 28 March 2019, 20 in every 100 stories were about people being harmed, against 41 today.

Written by code from the day's numbers.

Where it happened

feelings in full →
Feelings Events Harm Warmth
Belize City, Belize -- accidents & disasters: 5 stories, carried by 3 outlets; harsh wording in 40 in 100Meath, Ireland -- accidents & disasters: 6 stories, carried by 3 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Kisumu, Kenya -- protests & strikes: 7 stories, carried by 4 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Lake Chad, Nigeria -- attacks & violence: 6 stories, carried by 6 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Suzhou, China -- protests & strikes: 6 stories, carried by 9 outlets; harsh wording in 67 in 100Louisbourg, Canada -- accidents & disasters: 7 stories, carried by 7 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Prince Albert, Canada -- deaths, cause not given: 5 stories, carried by 10 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Ouahigouya, Burkina Faso -- people displaced: 5 stories, carried by 6 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Hanjin, South Korea -- protests & strikes: 12 stories, carried by 14 outlets; harsh wording in 75 in 100Anantnag, Kashmir -- attacks & violence: 20 stories, carried by 17 outlets; harsh wording in 90 in 100Bamako, Mali -- attacks & violence: 9 stories, carried by 22 outlets; harsh wording in 89 in 100Idlib, Syria -- disease & outbreaks: 27 stories, carried by 20 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Shiraz, Iran -- disease & outbreaks: 6 stories, carried by 11 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Kerala, Afghanistan -- attacks & violence: 10 stories, carried by 19 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Merapi, Indonesia -- accidents & disasters: 14 stories, carried by 25 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Damascus, Syria -- disease & outbreaks: 19 stories, carried by 42 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100El Paso, US -- accidents & disasters: 15 stories, carried by 73 outlets; harsh wording in 93 in 100Butte County, US -- accidents & disasters: 14 stories, carried by 48 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Kabul, Afghanistan -- attacks & violence: 116 stories, carried by 139 outlets; harsh wording in 95 in 100Tehran, Iran -- disease & outbreaks: 144 stories, carried by 250 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 two-thirds of usual
● Warmtha little more than 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.