← 20 Aug Friday 21 August 2020 · to 23:59 UTC 22 Aug →
What the world's news said happened to people.
Counts of coverage, not of suffering
27,787 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 Nairobi (Kenya) and people affected in Liberia drew the news. Russia's coverage was about twice as angry as the world's. In the world's news as a whole, the wording was about as usual.

Reports of evacuations ran at about twice the usual rate, most often about the US and Canada →
Part of lifeHealth 57 in 100 of the stories about harm · about as usual Country that rose mostRomania 52 in 100 of its 93 stories, usually 28
RegionLatin America & Caribbean 38 in 100 of its stories, usually 35
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

539 of its 1,139 stories (47%) were about people being harmed, usually 35%. Moscow accounted for 241 of Russia's 539 stories about harm, carried by 475 outlets. Reports of people falling ill ran at about 10 times the usual rate (6 stories). Poisoning was named in 282 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual. Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.

6 more places the news pointed at
Health

Bangladesh

104 of its 166 stories (63%) were about people being harmed, usually 52%. Dhaka accounted for 51 of Bangladesh's 104 stories about harm, carried by 26 outlets. Reports of refugees ran at about twice the usual rate (9 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's. Anger in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.

Health

Romania

48 of its 93 stories (52%) were about people being harmed, usually 28%. Reports of people injured ran at more than ten times the usual rate (22 stories). Outbreaks were named in 27 of its stories about harm, about 7 times usual.

Protests & strikes

Mali

Bamako accounted for 98 of Mali's 136 stories about harm, carried by 160 outlets. 56 of Bamako's 98 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of arrests ran at about three times the usual rate (27 stories).

Protests & strikes

Belarus

Minsk accounted for 93 of Belarus' 128 stories about harm, carried by 245 outlets. 86 of Minsk's 93 stories were about protests or strikes. Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.

Disasters & accidents

Mexico

196 of its 427 stories (46%) were about people being harmed, usually 37%. Flooding was named in 34 of its stories about harm, about 6 times usual, with power cuts, heavy rain and cyclone.

Health

DR Congo

8 of its 9 stories (89%) were about people being harmed, usually 48%. Reports of people affected ran at about twice the usual rate (7 stories).

Also named far more than usual: outbreaks in Romania (27 of its stories, about 7 times its usual); tsunami in Indonesia (35 of its stories, about 5 times its usual); flu in Spain (41 of its stories, about 4 times its usual); flooding in Mexico (34 of its stories, about 6 times its usual); power cuts in Ireland (29 of its stories, about 7 times its usual).

28 in 100 stories were about harm

usually 29; 27 the day before
33 in 10027 in 10023 Jul30 Jul6 Aug13 Aug21 Aug23 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 10018 Aug: 27 in 10019 Aug: 28 in 10020 Aug: 27 in 10021 Aug: 28 in 100 · this day

Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 21 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 27,787 stories about harm among 99,407 counted on 21 Aug.

Read the day's briefing

Reports of evacuations ran at about twice the usual rate, most often about the US and Canada. of the day's 99,407 news stories, 28 in every 100 were about people being harmed, below the usual 29. the news turned to Russia for the second day running. On 22 August 2019, a year earlier, the share was 19 in every 100, against 28 today. In Russia, 47% of the news was about people being harmed, where 35% is usual.

Written by code from the day's numbers.

Where it happened

feelings in full →
Feelings Events Harm Warmth
Caracas, Venezuela -- attacks & violence: 16 stories, carried by 42 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Stonehaven, UK -- accidents & disasters: 22 stories, carried by 29 outlets; harsh wording in 91 in 100Katabu, Indonesia -- accidents & disasters: 5 stories, carried by 21 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Kupang, Indonesia -- accidents & disasters: 8 stories, carried by 21 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Nairobi, Kenya -- protests & strikes: 54 stories, carried by 55 outlets; harsh wording in 93 in 100Tripoli, Libya -- attacks & violence: 21 stories, carried by 72 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Gulf of Mexico, Cuba -- accidents & disasters: 20 stories, carried by 28 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Telangana, India -- accidents & disasters: 54 stories, carried by 46 outlets; harsh wording in 93 in 100Sderot, Israel -- attacks & violence: 34 stories, carried by 47 outlets; harsh wording in 91 in 100Yangtze, China -- accidents & disasters: 19 stories, carried by 32 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Srisailam, India -- accidents & disasters: 62 stories, carried by 37 outlets; harsh wording in 92 in 100Jerusalem, Israel -- attacks & violence: 87 stories, carried by 89 outlets; harsh wording in 87 in 100Gunwalloe, UK -- accidents & disasters: 17 stories, carried by 106 outlets; harsh wording in 71 in 100Tehran, Iran -- attacks & violence: 75 stories, carried by 149 outlets; harsh wording in 93 in 100Madrid, Spain -- disease & outbreaks: 48 stories, carried by 81 outlets; harsh wording in 96 in 100Baghdad, Iraq -- protests & strikes: 30 stories, carried by 121 outlets; harsh wording in 97 in 100Baja California, Mexico -- accidents & disasters: 26 stories, carried by 73 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Bamako, Mali -- protests & strikes: 98 stories, carried by 160 outlets; harsh wording in 98 in 100Gulf of Mexico, Mexico -- accidents & disasters: 42 stories, carried by 127 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Vacaville, US -- accidents & disasters: 148 stories, carried by 284 outlets; harsh wording in 97 in 100Portland, US -- protests & strikes: 108 stories, carried by 330 outlets; harsh wording in 95 in 100Minsk, Belarus -- protests & strikes: 93 stories, carried by 245 outlets; harsh wording in 99 in 100Moscow, Russia -- disease & outbreaks: 241 stories, carried by 475 outlets; harsh wording in 97 in 100Omsk, Russia -- disease & outbreaks: 160 stories, carried by 485 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

The week in human impact

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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.