← 11 Aug Wednesday 12 August 2020 · to 23:59 UTC 13 Aug →
What the world's news said happened to people.
Counts of coverage, not of suffering
29,858 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 protests in Minsk (Belarus), illness in Moscow and arrests in Somalia. Belarus' coverage was about twice as angry as the world's. Language across the world's news ran about as usual.

Part of lifeHealth 57 in 100 of the stories about harm · less than usual Country that rose mostRussia 60 in 100 of its 1,201 stories, usually 33
RegionEurope 33 in 100 of its stories, usually 29
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 →
Protests & strikes

Belarus

241 of its 354 stories (68%) were about people being harmed, usually 48%. Minsk accounted for 177 of Belarus' 241 stories about harm, carried by 338 outlets. 166 of Minsk's 177 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of people affected ran at about three times the usual rate (6 stories). Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.

Health

Russia

717 of its 1,201 stories (60%) were about people being harmed, usually 33%. Moscow accounted for 311 of Russia's 717 stories about harm, carried by 568 outlets. Ebola was named in 56 of its stories about harm, about 4 times usual, with measles, hiv and polio.

Rights & justice

Somalia

45 of its 55 stories (82%) were about people being harmed, usually 52%. Reports of arrests ran at about three times the usual rate (5 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's.

Conflict & violence

South Sudan

27 of its 30 stories (90%) were about people being harmed, usually 60%. Reports of arrests ran at about 5 times the usual rate (9 stories). Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.

6 more places the news pointed at
Protests & strikes

India

221 of Bengaluru's 323 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of people injured ran at about three times the usual rate (172 stories). Road crashes were named in 16 of its stories about harm, about 4 times usual. Anger in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.

Health

Namibia

25 of its 46 stories (54%) were about people being harmed, usually 29%. Reports of people killed ran at about twice the usual rate (12 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's.

Conflict & violence

Iraq

60 of its 90 stories (67%) were about people being harmed, usually 53%. Baghdad accounted for 31 of Iraq's 60 stories about harm, carried by 34 outlets. Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.

Conflict & violence

Kashmir

105 of its 175 stories (60%) were about people being harmed, usually 53%. Reports of people injured ran at about three times the usual rate (25 stories). Its coverage was about twice as fearful as the world's. Anger in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.

Protests & strikes

Mali

33 of its 49 stories (67%) were about people being harmed, usually 56%. Bamako accounted for 28 of Mali's 33 stories about harm, carried by 39 outlets. 26 of Bamako's 28 stories were about protests or strikes.

Health

Bangladesh

Reports of people injured ran at about twice the usual rate (13 stories). Road crashes were named in 11 of its stories about harm, about 9 times usual. Fear in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.

Also named far more than usual: outbreaks in New Zealand (133 of its stories, about 4 times its usual); outbreaks in Finland (10 of its stories, about three times its usual); flooding in UK (289 of its stories, about 9 times its usual); wildfires in Brazil (11 of its stories, about 5 times its usual); plague in Italy (12 of its stories, about 4 times its usual).

28 in 100 stories were about harm

usually 30; 29 the day before
33 in 10028 in 10014 Jul21 Jul28 Jul4 Aug12 Aug14 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 1002 Aug: 32 in 1003 Aug: 29 in 1004 Aug: 29 in 1005 Aug: 29 in 1006 Aug: 29 in 1007 Aug: 29 in 1008 Aug: 31 in 1009 Aug: 32 in 10010 Aug: 29 in 10011 Aug: 29 in 10012 Aug: 28 in 100 · this day

Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 12 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 29,858 stories about harm among 105,753 counted on 12 Aug.

Read the day's briefing

It was the third day running that the news turned to Belarus. of the day's 105,753 news stories, 28 in every 100 were about people being harmed, below the usual 30. New Zealand's news mentioned outbreaks about 4 times as often as usual. A year earlier, on 13 August 2019, 21 in every 100 stories were about people being harmed, against 28 today. In Belarus, 68% of the news was about people being harmed, where 48% is usual.

Written by code from the day's numbers.

Where it happened

feelings in full →
Feelings Events Harm Warmth
Kaduna, Nigeria -- attacks & violence: 45 stories, carried by 25 outlets; harsh wording in 87 in 100Kozhikode, India -- accidents & disasters: 29 stories, carried by 21 outlets; harsh wording in 93 in 100Niamey, Niger -- attacks & violence: 16 stories, carried by 19 outlets; harsh wording in 94 in 100Bangkok, Thailand -- protests & strikes: 27 stories, carried by 26 outlets; harsh wording in 93 in 100Kerem Shalom, Israel -- attacks & violence: 27 stories, carried by 26 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Port Sudan, Sudan -- attacks & violence: 8 stories, carried by 19 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Sao Paulo, Brazil -- accidents & disasters: 19 stories, carried by 46 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Le Kang, China -- accidents & disasters: 8 stories, carried by 22 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Baghdad, Iraq -- attacks & violence: 31 stories, carried by 34 outlets; harsh wording in 97 in 100Wellington, New Zealand -- disease & outbreaks: 50 stories, carried by 42 outlets; harsh wording in 86 in 100Tonj, South Sudan -- attacks & violence: 17 stories, carried by 27 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Pulwama, Kashmir -- attacks & violence: 42 stories, carried by 32 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Bamako, Mali -- protests & strikes: 28 stories, carried by 39 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Mong Kok, Hong Kong -- protests & strikes: 46 stories, carried by 68 outlets; harsh wording in 93 in 100Hiroshima, Japan -- attacks & violence: 19 stories, carried by 53 outlets; harsh wording in 84 in 100Mahebourg, Mauritius -- accidents & disasters: 27 stories, carried by 62 outlets; harsh wording in 96 in 100Rotorua, New Zealand -- disease & outbreaks: 75 stories, carried by 103 outlets; harsh wording in 89 in 100Edinburgh, UK -- accidents & disasters: 93 stories, carried by 212 outlets; harsh wording in 88 in 100Cedar Rapids, US -- accidents & disasters: 57 stories, carried by 256 outlets; harsh wording in 93 in 100Beirut, Lebanon -- attacks & violence: 451 stories, carried by 532 outlets; harsh wording in 97 in 100Bengaluru, India -- protests & strikes: 323 stories, carried by 204 outlets; harsh wording in 97 in 100Portland, US -- protests & strikes: 106 stories, carried by 263 outlets; harsh wording in 94 in 100Minsk, Belarus -- protests & strikes: 177 stories, carried by 338 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Stonehaven, UK -- accidents & disasters: 207 stories, carried by 349 outlets; harsh wording in 97 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
● 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.