← 16 Aug Monday 17 August 2020 · to 23:59 UTC 18 Aug →
What the world's news said happened to people.
Counts of coverage, not of suffering
26,051 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 →

Violence in Mogadishu, protests in Bangkok (Thailand) and people killed in the Dominican Republic drew the news. Somalia's coverage was about 4 times as angry as the world's. Worldwide, the words used were about as usual.

Part of lifeHealth 57 in 100 of the stories about harm · about as usual Country that rose mostSomalia 83 in 100 of its 137 stories, usually 57
RegionEvery region about as usual
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 →
Conflict & violence

Somalia

114 of its 137 stories (83%) were about people being harmed, usually 57%. Mogadishu accounted for 96 of Somalia's 114 stories about harm, carried by 130 outlets. Reports of people injured ran at about three times the usual rate (74 stories). Its coverage was about 4 times as angry as the world's.

6 more places the news pointed at
Conflict & violence

Kashmir

132 of its 221 stories (60%) were about people being harmed, usually 52%. Baramulla accounted for 78 of Kashmir's 132 stories about harm, carried by 39 outlets. Reports of people injured ran at about three times the usual rate (32 stories). Its coverage was about three times as fearful as the world's. Anger in its coverage rose to about twice its own usual.

Conflict & violence

Mozambique

50 of its 77 stories (65%) were about people being harmed, usually 47%. Reports of people injured ran at about twice the usual rate (5 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.

Protests & strikes

Côte d’Ivoire

10 of its 16 stories (62%) were about people being harmed, usually 37%. 3 of Abidjan's 6 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of people injured ran at about 5 times the usual rate (5 stories).

Conflict & violence

Syria

76 of its 112 stories (68%) were about people being harmed, usually 60%. Reports of people injured ran at about twice the usual rate (32 stories). Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's.

Protests & strikes

Belarus

Minsk accounted for 259 of Belarus' 340 stories about harm, carried by 501 outlets. 245 of Minsk's 259 stories were about protests or strikes. Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.

Health

Trinidad & Tobago

42 of its 79 stories (53%) were about people being harmed, usually 27%. Reports of arrests ran at about three times the usual rate (8 stories).

Also named far more than usual: illness in Malaysia (60 of its stories, about three times its usual); outbreaks in Nepal (13 of its stories, about three times its usual); earthquake in Mexico (15 of its stories, about 5 times its usual); wildfires in Israel (14 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); drownings in Pakistan (10 of its stories, about 4 times its usual).

28 in 100 stories were about harm

usually 30; 31 the day before
33 in 10028 in 10019 Jul26 Jul2 Aug9 Aug17 Aug19 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 10013 Aug: 28 in 10014 Aug: 28 in 10015 Aug: 29 in 10016 Aug: 31 in 10017 Aug: 28 in 100 · this day

Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 17 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 26,051 stories about harm among 94,445 counted on 17 Aug.

Read the day's briefing

The share of stories about people being harmed was the lowest since 9 March 2020. 28 in every 100 of the day's 94,445 news stories were about people being harmed, below the usual 30. For the second day running, the news turned to Somalia. the Dominican Republic's news mentioned Covid about three times as often as usual. A year earlier, on 18 August 2019, 25 in every 100 stories were about people being harmed, against 28 today.

Written by code from the day's numbers.

Where it happened

feelings in full →
Feelings Events Harm Warmth
Idlib, Syria -- attacks & violence: 14 stories, carried by 14 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Algoa Bay, South Africa -- accidents & disasters: 7 stories, carried by 16 outlets; harsh wording in 86 in 100Lake Chad, Nigeria -- attacks & violence: 11 stories, carried by 13 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Hiroshima, Japan -- attacks & violence: 14 stories, carried by 14 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Karachi, Pakistan -- accidents & disasters: 35 stories, carried by 37 outlets; harsh wording in 89 in 100Caribbean Sea, Belize -- accidents & disasters: 11 stories, carried by 15 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Sichuan, China -- accidents & disasters: 15 stories, carried by 29 outlets; harsh wording in 93 in 100Okanagan, Canada -- accidents & disasters: 25 stories, carried by 27 outlets; harsh wording in 80 in 100Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia -- disease & outbreaks: 51 stories, carried by 48 outlets; harsh wording in 80 in 100Khartoum, Sudan -- attacks & violence: 20 stories, carried by 68 outlets; harsh wording in 95 in 100Baramulla, Kashmir -- attacks & violence: 78 stories, carried by 39 outlets; harsh wording in 97 in 100Kabul, Afghanistan -- attacks & violence: 44 stories, carried by 75 outlets; harsh wording in 95 in 100Madrid, Spain -- protests & strikes: 37 stories, carried by 70 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Kerem Shalom, Israel -- attacks & violence: 31 stories, carried by 65 outlets; harsh wording in 94 in 100Ile aux Aigrettes, Mauritius -- accidents & disasters: 21 stories, carried by 59 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Bagram, Iran -- attacks & violence: 14 stories, carried by 69 outlets; harsh wording in 86 in 100Baghdad, Iraq -- attacks & violence: 28 stories, carried by 79 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Sheringham, UK -- accidents & disasters: 22 stories, carried by 124 outlets; harsh wording in 95 in 100Bangkok, Thailand -- protests & strikes: 92 stories, carried by 154 outlets; harsh wording in 92 in 100Beirut, Lebanon -- attacks & violence: 238 stories, carried by 349 outlets; harsh wording in 95 in 100Death Valley, US -- accidents & disasters: 59 stories, carried by 119 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Mogadishu, Somalia -- attacks & violence: 96 stories, carried by 130 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Minneapolis, US -- protests & strikes: 70 stories, carried by 310 outlets; harsh wording in 91 in 100Minsk, Belarus -- protests & strikes: 259 stories, carried by 501 outlets; harsh wording in 99 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

The week in human impact

Read the week →

Unlock a year of trends, free. Follow up to 5 countries, with a bell when their news changes, and 👍 vote for Pro — ten years of the archive, any period, daily alerts.

Create a free account

Sign in · a username, an email and a password.

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.