← 28 Mar Sunday 29 March 2020 · to 23:59 UTC 30 Mar →
What the world's news said happened to people.
Counts of coverage, not of suffering
26,580 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 abductions in Mali, protests in Ministry of Health (Oman) and deaths in Botswana. Botswana's coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's. Across the world, the tone of the words was about as usual.

Part of lifeHealth 84 in 100 of the stories about harm · much more than usual Country that rose mostPanama 80 in 100 of its 88 stories, usually 39
RegionCentral Asia 62 in 100 of its stories, usually 32
Tone of the words About as usual across the world's stories about harm

What the world's news was about today

how these are picked →
Health

Mali

32 of its 38 stories (84%) were about people being harmed, usually 52%. Reports of abductions ran at about 5 times the usual rate (18 stories). Covid was named in 31 of its stories about harm, about three times usual, with outbreaks. Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.

Health

US

9,286 of its 17,914 stories (52%) were about people being harmed, usually 38%. Reports of people injured ran at about three times the usual rate (731 stories). Drownings were named in 41 of its stories about harm, about three times usual, with train derailment. Grief in its coverage rose to about twice its own usual.

6 more places the news pointed at
Health

Indonesia

101 of its 152 stories (66%) were about people being harmed, usually 52%. Jakarta accounted for 62 of Indonesia's 101 stories about harm, carried by 40 outlets. Reports of people injured ran at about three times the usual rate (6 stories). Earthquake was named in 15 of its stories about harm, about three times usual.

Health

Libya

26 of its 34 stories (76%) were about people being harmed, usually 52%. Tripoli accounted for 22 of Libya's 26 stories about harm, carried by 26 outlets. Reports of people displaced ran at about twice the usual rate (5 stories). Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.

Health

Panama

70 of its 88 stories (80%) were about people being harmed, usually 39%. the Panama Canal accounted for 55 of Panama's 70 stories about harm, carried by 144 outlets. Reports of people killed ran at about 4 times the usual rate (62 stories).

Health

Netherlands

58 of its 121 stories (48%) were about people being harmed, usually 28%. Reports of people killed ran at about three times the usual rate (41 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's.

Health

Armenia

26 of its 46 stories (57%) were about people being harmed, usually 30%. Reports of people killed ran at about 5 times the usual rate (13 stories). Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's.

Health

Spain

265 of its 521 stories (51%) were about people being harmed, usually 37%. Drownings were named in 16 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual. Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's.

Also named far more than usual: covid in Syria (49 of its stories, about 4 times its usual); flu in New Zealand (56 of its stories, about 5 times its usual); flu in Brazil (15 of its stories, about three times its usual); earthquake in Indonesia (15 of its stories, about three times its usual); drownings in Spain (16 of its stories, more than ten times its usual).

44 in 100 stories were about harm

usually 34; 43 the day before
44 in 10024 in 10029 Feb7 Mar14 Mar21 Mar29 Mar29 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 10028 Mar: 43 in 10029 Mar: 44 in 100 · this day

Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 29 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 26,580 stories about harm among 60,658 counted on 29 Mar.

Read the day's briefing

The share of stories about people being harmed was the highest in all 1550 days held. 44 in every 100 of the day's 60,658 news stories were about people being harmed, above the usual 34. On 30 March 2019, a year earlier, the share was 21 in every 100, against 44 today. Mali stood out: 84% of its news was about people being harmed, usually 52%. This week the news turned most often to Afghanistan, on 4 of 7 days; help rose on 2 of them.

Written by code from the day's numbers.

Where it happened

feelings in full →
Feelings Events Harm Warmth
Kigali, Rwanda -- attacks & violence: 5 stories, carried by 6 outlets; harsh wording in 80 in 100Visakhapatnam, India -- people displaced: 6 stories, carried by 5 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Maiduguri, Nigeria -- attacks & violence: 7 stories, carried by 8 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Cape Breton, Canada -- people displaced: 6 stories, carried by 7 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Pokhara, Nepal -- people displaced: 5 stories, carried by 8 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Mirusuvil, Sri Lanka -- attacks & violence: 8 stories, carried by 10 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Yamgan, Afghanistan -- attacks & violence: 5 stories, carried by 11 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Katsina, Nigeria -- protests & strikes: 10 stories, carried by 11 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Jizan, Saudi Arabia -- attacks & violence: 10 stories, carried by 15 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Jodhpur, India -- people displaced: 12 stories, carried by 14 outlets; harsh wording in 83 in 100Idlib, Syria -- disease & outbreaks: 20 stories, carried by 21 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Greymouth, New Zealand -- disease & outbreaks: 25 stories, carried by 14 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Sao Paulo, Brazil -- protests & strikes: 16 stories, carried by 21 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Elzbieta, Poland -- deaths, cause not given: 5 stories, carried by 47 outlets; harsh wording in 40 in 100Buriram, Thailand -- protests & strikes: 12 stories, carried by 16 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Damascus, Syria -- disease & outbreaks: 21 stories, carried by 24 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Kabul, Afghanistan -- attacks & violence: 42 stories, carried by 40 outlets; harsh wording in 93 in 100Wellington, New Zealand -- disease & outbreaks: 37 stories, carried by 26 outlets; harsh wording in 92 in 100Rio de Janeiro, Brazil -- disease & outbreaks: 16 stories, carried by 35 outlets; harsh wording in 94 in 100Methodist Church, US -- protests & strikes: 7 stories, carried by 38 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Bamako, Mali -- disease & outbreaks: 19 stories, carried by 42 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Riyadh, Saudi Arabia -- attacks & violence: 87 stories, carried by 117 outlets; harsh wording in 94 in 100Kirkuk, Iraq -- attacks & violence: 12 stories, carried by 107 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Jonesboro, US -- accidents & disasters: 86 stories, carried by 250 outlets; harsh wording in 95 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 about as usual. Filled dot: today. Ring: usual.

● Angera little less than usual
● Warmthabout as usual
● Griefabout one and a half times 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.