← 20 Jul Tuesday 21 July 2020 · to 23:59 UTC 22 Jul →
What the world's news said happened to people.
Counts of coverage, not of suffering
31,274 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 protests in Baghdad (Iraq), rights and justice in Lutsk and flooding in Afghanistan. Afghanistan's coverage was about three times as angry as the world's. Taken together, the world's news read softer than usual.

Help and hope: reports of peace efforts ran at about twice the usual rate →
Part of lifeHealth 62 in 100 of the stories about harm · more than usual Country that rose mostUkraine 62 in 100 of its 302 stories, usually 32
RegionCentral Asia 46 in 100 of its stories, usually 44
Tone of the words Softer than usual across the world's stories about harm

What the world's news was about today

how these are picked →
Protests & strikes

Iraq

78 of its 121 stories (64%) were about people being harmed, usually 56%. Baghdad accounted for 54 of Iraq's 78 stories about harm, carried by 73 outlets. 31 of Baghdad's 54 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of abductions ran at more than ten times the usual rate (12 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's.

Rights & justice

Ukraine

186 of its 302 stories (62%) were about people being harmed, usually 32%. Lutsk accounted for 131 of Ukraine's 186 stories about harm, carried by 267 outlets. Reports of abductions ran at more than ten times the usual rate (132 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.

Conflict & violence

Afghanistan

110 of its 151 stories (73%) were about people being harmed, usually 64%. Kabul accounted for 67 of Afghanistan's 110 stories about harm, carried by 84 outlets. Flooding was named in 12 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual. Its coverage was about three times as angry as the world's.

6 more places the news pointed at
Protests & strikes

Sudan

79 of its 119 stories (66%) were about people being harmed, usually 57%. 26 of Khartoum's 34 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of people displaced ran at about twice the usual rate (17 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's.

Conflict & violence

Syria

106 of its 149 stories (71%) were about people being harmed, usually 63%. Damascus accounted for 51 of Syria's 106 stories about harm, carried by 65 outlets. Reports of people injured ran at about 4 times the usual rate (42 stories). Its coverage was about three times as angry as the world's.

Rights & justice

Zimbabwe

131 of its 281 stories (47%) were about people being harmed, usually 37%. Reports of arrests ran at about twice the usual rate (39 stories).

Disasters & accidents

Bhutan

9 of its 15 stories (60%) were about people being harmed, usually 29%. Reports of people affected ran at about twice the usual rate (5 stories).

Health

Argentina

32 of its 82 stories (39%) were about people being harmed, usually 28%. Reports of people affected ran at about three times the usual rate (5 stories).

Conflict & violence

Libya

46 of its 98 stories (47%) were about people being harmed, usually 39%. Its coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's.

Also named far more than usual: poisoning in Russia (26 of its stories, about 4 times its usual); volcanic eruption in Switzerland (10 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); respiratory illness in Kenya (10 of its stories, about 8 times its usual); hunger in South Africa (11 of its stories, about 6 times its usual); meningitis in UK (19 of its stories, about 4 times its usual).

30 in 100 stories were about harm

usually 31; 30 the day before
34 in 10029 in 10022 Jun29 Jun6 Jul13 Jul21 Jul22 Jun: 31 in 10023 Jun: 31 in 10024 Jun: 30 in 10025 Jun: 31 in 10026 Jun: 30 in 10027 Jun: 33 in 10028 Jun: 34 in 10029 Jun: 31 in 10030 Jun: 30 in 1001 Jul: 30 in 1002 Jul: 30 in 1003 Jul: 30 in 1004 Jul: 32 in 1005 Jul: 34 in 1006 Jul: 31 in 1007 Jul: 31 in 1008 Jul: 30 in 1009 Jul: 30 in 10010 Jul: 30 in 10011 Jul: 32 in 10012 Jul: 33 in 10013 Jul: 31 in 10014 Jul: 30 in 10015 Jul: 29 in 10016 Jul: 29 in 10017 Jul: 30 in 10018 Jul: 32 in 10019 Jul: 33 in 10020 Jul: 30 in 10021 Jul: 30 in 100 · this day

Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 21 Jul. 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 31,274 stories about harm among 105,565 counted on 21 Jul.

Read the day's briefing

Reports of peace efforts, a sign of help, ran at about twice the usual rate. 30 in every 100 of the day's 105,565 news stories were about people being harmed, below the usual 31. In Russia's news, mentions of poisoning ran about 4 times their usual. A year earlier, on 22 July 2019, 21 in every 100 stories were about people being harmed, against 30 today. Iraq's news was 64% about people being harmed, against a usual 56%.

Written by code from the day's numbers.

Where it happened

feelings in full →
Feelings Events Harm Warmth
Sirte, Libya -- attacks & violence: 12 stories, carried by 11 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Diaoyu, China -- attacks & violence: 12 stories, carried by 13 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Kaziranga, India -- accidents & disasters: 14 stories, carried by 14 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Ankara, Türkiye -- attacks & violence: 34 stories, carried by 24 outlets; harsh wording in 97 in 100Kaduna, Nigeria -- attacks & violence: 44 stories, carried by 29 outlets; harsh wording in 86 in 100Bamako, Mali -- protests & strikes: 15 stories, carried by 22 outlets; harsh wording in 87 in 100Baja California, Mexico -- accidents & disasters: 6 stories, carried by 17 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Jalisco, Mexico -- protests & strikes: 7 stories, carried by 28 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Kathmandu, Nepal -- accidents & disasters: 19 stories, carried by 39 outlets; harsh wording in 89 in 100Goalpara, India -- accidents & disasters: 12 stories, carried by 19 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Azaz, Syria -- attacks & violence: 18 stories, carried by 22 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Bridgewater, Canada -- protests & strikes: 7 stories, carried by 32 outlets; harsh wording in 86 in 100Thorburn Lake, Canada -- accidents & disasters: 6 stories, carried by 28 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Tripoli, Libya -- attacks & violence: 31 stories, carried by 39 outlets; harsh wording in 87 in 100Khartoum, Sudan -- protests & strikes: 34 stories, carried by 42 outlets; harsh wording in 97 in 100Darfur, Sudan -- attacks & violence: 24 stories, carried by 38 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Baghdad, Iraq -- protests & strikes: 54 stories, carried by 73 outlets; harsh wording in 89 in 100Kabul, Afghanistan -- attacks & violence: 67 stories, carried by 84 outlets; harsh wording in 97 in 100Yangtze, China -- accidents & disasters: 27 stories, carried by 50 outlets; harsh wording in 96 in 100Damascus, Syria -- attacks & violence: 51 stories, carried by 65 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Magdeburg, Germany -- attacks & violence: 14 stories, carried by 78 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Ghor, Afghanistan -- attacks & violence: 7 stories, carried by 83 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Missouri, US -- protests & strikes: 137 stories, carried by 381 outlets; harsh wording in 93 in 100Portland, US -- protests & strikes: 372 stories, carried by 693 outlets; harsh wording in 96 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 softer than usual. Filled dot: today. Ring: usual.

● Angerabout as usual
● Warmthabout as usual
● Griefa little less than 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.