← 31 Jul Saturday 1 August 2020 · to 23:59 UTC 2 Aug →
What the world's news said happened to people.
Counts of coverage, not of suffering
17,432 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 Moscow, protests in Harare (Zimbabwe) and flooding in Afghanistan drew the news. Afghanistan's coverage was about twice as angry as the world's. Everywhere we counted, the words were about as usual.

Reports of evacuations ran at about twice the usual rate, most often about the US and the Bahamas →
Part of lifeHealth 57 in 100 of the stories about harm · less than usual Country that rose mostBahamas 70 in 100 of its 119 stories, usually 35
RegionCentral Asia 60 in 100 of its stories, usually 46
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

Russia

218 of its 445 stories (49%) were about people being harmed, usually 32%. Moscow accounted for 129 of Russia's 218 stories about harm, carried by 190 outlets. Reports of arrests ran at about twice the usual rate (35 stories). Drought was named in 12 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual, with earthquake.

Protests & strikes

Zimbabwe

107 of its 186 stories (58%) were about people being harmed, usually 42%. Harare accounted for 67 of Zimbabwe's 107 stories about harm, carried by 115 outlets. 49 of Harare's 67 stories were about protests or strikes. Its coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's.

Conflict & violence

Afghanistan

72 of its 91 stories (79%) were about people being harmed, usually 66%. Kabul accounted for 36 of Afghanistan's 72 stories about harm, carried by 54 outlets. Flooding was named in 12 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual. Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.

Disasters & accidents

Bahamas

83 of its 119 stories (70%) were about people being harmed, usually 35%. Reports of evacuations ran at more than ten times the usual rate (24 stories). Storms were named in 56 of its stories about harm, about 4 times usual, with landslides, power cuts and heavy rain.

6 more places the news pointed at
Protests & strikes

Iraq

43 of its 61 stories (70%) were about people being harmed, usually 56%. 19 of Baghdad's 26 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of people displaced ran at about 4 times the usual rate (5 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's.

Health

Vietnam

103 of its 196 stories (53%) were about people being harmed, usually 36%. da Nang accounted for 67 of Vietnam's 103 stories about harm, carried by 141 outlets. Reports of people killed ran at about 4 times the usual rate (59 stories).

Rights & justice

Belarus

26 of its 40 stories (65%) were about people being harmed, usually 37%. Minsk accounted for 23 of Belarus' 26 stories about harm, carried by 67 outlets. Reports of arrests ran at about twice the usual rate (23 stories).

Health

Saudi Arabia

85 of its 155 stories (55%) were about people being harmed, usually 43%. Mecca accounted for 51 of Saudi Arabia's 85 stories about harm, carried by 84 outlets. Reports of arrests ran at about twice the usual rate (10 stories).

Health

Kuwait

24 of its 47 stories (51%) were about people being harmed, usually 38%. Reports of people killed ran at about twice the usual rate (21 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.

Conflict & violence

Iran

101 of its 177 stories (57%) were about people being harmed, usually 49%. Reports of people injured ran at about 5 times the usual rate (46 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.

Also named far more than usual: outbreaks in Switzerland (12 of its stories, about 4 times its usual); flu in Ireland (28 of its stories, about 10 times its usual); hurricane in US (717 of its stories, about 5 times its usual); wildfires in Canada (18 of its stories, about 4 times its usual); heatwave in UK (15 of its stories, about three times its usual).

31 in 100 stories were about harm

usually 30; 29 the day before
34 in 10028 in 1003 Jul10 Jul17 Jul24 Jul1 Aug3 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 10022 Jul: 30 in 10023 Jul: 29 in 10024 Jul: 29 in 10025 Jul: 31 in 10026 Jul: 33 in 10027 Jul: 29 in 10028 Jul: 29 in 10029 Jul: 28 in 10030 Jul: 28 in 10031 Jul: 29 in 1001 Aug: 31 in 100 · this day

Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 1 Aug. 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 17,432 stories about harm among 56,615 counted on 1 Aug.

Read the day's briefing

Reports of evacuations ran at about twice the usual rate, most often about the US and the Bahamas. Stories about people being harmed made up 31 in every 100 of the day's 56,615 stories, as usual. Mentions of storms ran about 4 times their usual in the Bahamas' news. On 2 August 2019, a year earlier, the share was 21 in every 100, against 31 today. Russia stood out: 49% of its news was about people being harmed, usually 32%. Over July, 30 in every 100 stories were about people being harmed, against 21 in July 2019.

Written by code from the day's numbers.

Where it happened

feelings in full →
Feelings Events Harm Warmth
Essex, UK -- accidents & disasters: 9 stories, carried by 17 outlets; harsh wording in 89 in 100Ekpoma, Nigeria -- people displaced: 7 stories, carried by 10 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Phnom Penh, Cambodia -- protests & strikes: 6 stories, carried by 16 outlets; harsh wording in 83 in 100Maiduguri, Nigeria -- attacks & violence: 13 stories, carried by 11 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Darfur, Sudan -- attacks & violence: 9 stories, carried by 20 outlets; harsh wording in 89 in 100Hiroshima, Japan -- attacks & violence: 10 stories, carried by 11 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Rajasthan, Pakistan -- attacks & violence: 13 stories, carried by 17 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Geneva, Switzerland -- disease & outbreaks: 19 stories, carried by 23 outlets; harsh wording in 89 in 100Dublin, Ireland -- disease & outbreaks: 81 stories, carried by 46 outlets; harsh wording in 84 in 100Hindustan, India -- accidents & disasters: 25 stories, carried by 22 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Kabul, Afghanistan -- attacks & violence: 36 stories, carried by 54 outlets; harsh wording in 97 in 100Baghdad, Iraq -- protests & strikes: 26 stories, carried by 31 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Visakhapatnam, India -- accidents & disasters: 43 stories, carried by 39 outlets; harsh wording in 98 in 100Pantanal, Brazil -- accidents & disasters: 6 stories, carried by 34 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Jerusalem, Israel -- protests & strikes: 33 stories, carried by 62 outlets; harsh wording in 91 in 100Shiraz, Iran -- attacks & violence: 22 stories, carried by 40 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Tiergarten, Germany -- protests & strikes: 10 stories, carried by 44 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Tehran, Iran -- attacks & violence: 47 stories, carried by 108 outlets; harsh wording in 94 in 100Harare, Zimbabwe -- protests & strikes: 67 stories, carried by 115 outlets; harsh wording in 96 in 100Freeport, Bahamas -- accidents & disasters: 6 stories, carried by 86 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Berlin, Germany -- protests & strikes: 62 stories, carried by 244 outlets; harsh wording in 94 in 100Abaco, Bahamas -- accidents & disasters: 27 stories, carried by 222 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Portland, US -- protests & strikes: 149 stories, carried by 418 outlets; harsh wording in 95 in 100Miami, US -- accidents & disasters: 256 stories, carried by 514 outlets; harsh wording in 98 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.