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What the world's news said happened to people.
Counts of coverage, not of suffering
34,388 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 rights and justice in Riyadh, the cyclone in Bangladesh and protests in Hong Kong. Saudi Arabia's coverage was about 4 times as grief-stricken as the world's. In the world's news as a whole, the wording was about as usual.

Part of lifeHealth 71 in 100 of the stories about harm · much less than usual Country that rose mostSaudi Arabia 60 in 100 of its 335 stories, usually 46
RegionCentral Asia 42 in 100 of its stories, usually 39
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 →
Rights & justice

Saudi Arabia

200 of its 335 stories (60%) were about people being harmed, usually 46%. Riyadh accounted for 86 of Saudi Arabia's 200 stories about harm, carried by 281 outlets. Reports of arrests ran at about 8 times the usual rate (60 stories). Its coverage was about 4 times as grief-stricken as the world's.

Health

Bangladesh

181 of its 269 stories (67%) were about people being harmed, usually 58%. Reports of evacuations ran at about three times the usual rate (25 stories). Cyclone was named in 83 of its stories about harm, about 4 times usual, with flooding, heavy rain and typhoon.

6 more places the news pointed at
Health

Pakistan

Karachi accounted for 331 of Pakistan's 607 stories about harm, carried by 530 outlets. Reports of people injured ran at about 6 times the usual rate (110 stories). Plane crash was named in 170 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual.

Health

Chile

26 of its 60 stories (43%) were about people being harmed, usually 23%. Reports of people affected ran at about three times the usual rate (5 stories).

Health

Georgia

24 of its 34 stories (71%) were about people being harmed, usually 48%. Reports of people injured ran at about 4 times the usual rate (8 stories).

Rights & justice

Nicaragua

12 of its 16 stories (75%) were about people being harmed, usually 44%. Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.

Health

Sudan

Reports of people injured ran at about three times the usual rate (15 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's.

Health

Brazil

Reports of people injured ran at about twice the usual rate (8 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.

Also named far more than usual: plane crash in Pakistan (170 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); cyclone in India (401 of its stories, about 6 times its usual); storms in Ireland (17 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); hurricane in Canada (13 of its stories, about 9 times its usual); meningitis in UK (32 of its stories, about three times its usual).

32 in 100 stories were about harm

usually 35; 32 the day before
39 in 10032 in 10023 Apr30 Apr7 May14 May22 May23 Apr: 37 in 10024 Apr: 36 in 10025 Apr: 37 in 10026 Apr: 39 in 10027 Apr: 37 in 10028 Apr: 37 in 10029 Apr: 36 in 10030 Apr: 35 in 1001 May: 35 in 1002 May: 37 in 1003 May: 38 in 1004 May: 36 in 1005 May: 35 in 1006 May: 35 in 1007 May: 34 in 1008 May: 33 in 1009 May: 36 in 10010 May: 38 in 10011 May: 34 in 10012 May: 34 in 10013 May: 34 in 10014 May: 33 in 10015 May: 33 in 10016 May: 36 in 10017 May: 37 in 10018 May: 34 in 10019 May: 33 in 10020 May: 33 in 10021 May: 32 in 10022 May: 32 in 100 · this day

Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 22 May. 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 34,388 stories about harm among 107,783 counted on 22 May.

Read the day's briefing

The share of stories about people being harmed was the lowest since 12 March 2020. 32 in every 100 of the day's 107,783 news stories were about people being harmed, below the usual 35. In Bangladesh's news, mentions of the cyclone ran about 4 times their usual. A year earlier, on 23 May 2019, 19 in every 100 stories were about people being harmed, against 32 today.

Written by code from the day's numbers.

Where it happened

feelings in full →
Feelings Events Harm Warmth
Mogadishu, Somalia -- attacks & violence: 8 stories, carried by 9 outlets; harsh wording in 88 in 100Abaco, Bahamas -- accidents & disasters: 7 stories, carried by 6 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Byron Bay, Australia -- protests & strikes: 6 stories, carried by 12 outlets; harsh wording in 83 in 100Idlib, Syria -- people displaced: 12 stories, carried by 11 outlets; harsh wording in 92 in 100Essex, Canada -- deaths, cause not given: 10 stories, carried by 29 outlets; harsh wording in 40 in 100Caribbean Sea, Belize -- accidents & disasters: 5 stories, carried by 6 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Jammu, Kashmir -- attacks & violence: 24 stories, carried by 22 outlets; harsh wording in 75 in 100Baghdad, Iraq -- attacks & violence: 14 stories, carried by 21 outlets; harsh wording in 93 in 100Kupwara, Kashmir -- attacks & violence: 8 stories, carried by 10 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Kassala, Sudan -- attacks & violence: 5 stories, carried by 12 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Hong Kong -- protests & strikes: 26 stories, carried by 28 outlets; harsh wording in 92 in 100Tripoli, Libya -- attacks & violence: 19 stories, carried by 20 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Ruhengeri, Rwanda -- attacks & violence: 21 stories, carried by 18 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Digha, Bangladesh -- accidents & disasters: 14 stories, carried by 23 outlets; harsh wording in 93 in 100Bhubaneswar, India -- accidents & disasters: 24 stories, carried by 28 outlets; harsh wording in 96 in 100Marib, Yemen -- people displaced: 5 stories, carried by 36 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Sundarbans, Bangladesh -- accidents & disasters: 14 stories, carried by 22 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Kabul, Afghanistan -- attacks & violence: 52 stories, carried by 54 outlets; harsh wording in 92 in 100Lahore, Pakistan -- accidents & disasters: 79 stories, carried by 81 outlets; harsh wording in 96 in 100Pointe Noire, Congo -- attacks & violence: 5 stories, carried by 31 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Corpus Christi, US -- attacks & violence: 89 stories, carried by 206 outlets; harsh wording in 97 in 100Kolkata, India -- accidents & disasters: 226 stories, carried by 201 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Karachi, Pakistan -- accidents & disasters: 331 stories, carried by 530 outlets; harsh wording in 99 in 100Midland County, US -- accidents & disasters: 122 stories, carried by 285 outlets; harsh wording in 93 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.

● 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.