← 1 Sep Wednesday 2 September 2020 · to 23:59 UTC 3 Sep →
What the world's news said happened to people.
Counts of coverage, not of suffering
28,562 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 →

Rights and justice in Phnom Penh, abductions in Rwanda and illness in Moscow drew the news. Cambodia's coverage was about three times as grief-stricken as the world's. Language across the world's news ran about as usual.

Part of lifeHealth 58 in 100 of the stories about harm · more than usual Country that rose mostBelize 78 in 100 of its 80 stories, usually 29
RegionLatin America & Caribbean 36 in 100 of its stories, usually 34
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 →
Rights & justice

Cambodia

102 of its 144 stories (71%) were about people being harmed, usually 36%. Phnom Penh accounted for 73 of Cambodia's 102 stories about harm, carried by 380 outlets. Reports of people killed ran at about 6 times the usual rate (83 stories). Hunger was named in 22 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual. Its coverage was about three times as grief-stricken as the world's.

Conflict & violence

Rwanda

50 of its 78 stories (64%) were about people being harmed, usually 52%. Reports of abductions ran at about 5 times the usual rate (7 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.

6 more places the news pointed at
Conflict & violence

France

310 of its 901 stories (34%) were about people being harmed, usually 27%. Reports of abductions ran at about 9 times the usual rate (50 stories). Its coverage was about three times as angry as the world's.

Conflict & violence

Afghanistan

Kabul accounted for 60 of Afghanistan's 114 stories about harm, carried by 68 outlets. Reports of refugees ran at about three times the usual rate (6 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as warm as the world's.

Disasters & accidents

Belize

62 of its 80 stories (78%) were about people being harmed, usually 29%. Storm surge was named in 20 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual, with flooding.

Health

Iceland

37 of its 70 stories (53%) were about people being harmed, usually 35%. Flu was named in 14 of its stories about harm, about 10 times usual.

Disasters & accidents

Honduras

20 of its 27 stories (74%) were about people being harmed, usually 49%. Hurricane was named in 18 of its stories about harm, about three times usual.

Health

Sudan

54 of its 81 stories (67%) were about people being harmed, usually 54%. Reports of people displaced ran at about twice the usual rate (15 stories).

Also named far more than usual: hurricane in Honduras (18 of its stories, about three times its usual); storm surge in Belize (20 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); flu in Iceland (14 of its stories, about 10 times its usual); typhoon in Japan (30 of its stories, about 6 times its usual); poisoning in Germany (24 of its stories, about 4 times its usual).

27 in 100 stories were about harm

usually 29; 27 the day before
32 in 10027 in 1004 Aug11 Aug18 Aug25 Aug2 Sep4 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 10022 Aug: 30 in 10023 Aug: 31 in 10024 Aug: 29 in 10025 Aug: 28 in 10026 Aug: 29 in 10027 Aug: 29 in 10028 Aug: 29 in 10029 Aug: 30 in 10030 Aug: 31 in 10031 Aug: 29 in 1001 Sep: 27 in 1002 Sep: 27 in 100 · this day

Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 2 Sep. 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 28,562 stories about harm among 106,650 counted on 2 Sep.

Read the day's briefing

It was the lowest share of stories about people being harmed since 6 March 2020. of the day's 106,650 news stories, 27 in every 100 were about people being harmed, below the usual 29. Russia's news mentioned poisoning about three times as often as usual. Cambodia's news was 71% about people being harmed, against a usual 36%. A year earlier, on 3 September 2019, 24 in every 100 stories were about people being harmed, against 27 today.

Written by code from the day's numbers.

Where it happened

feelings in full →
Feelings Events Harm Warmth
Belgrade, -- attacks & violence: 5 stories, carried by 37 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Ballarat, Australia -- protests & strikes: 13 stories, carried by 15 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Riyadh, Saudi Arabia -- attacks & violence: 26 stories, carried by 29 outlets; harsh wording in 77 in 100Inverness, UK -- accidents & disasters: 12 stories, carried by 48 outlets; harsh wording in 75 in 100Damascus, Syria -- attacks & violence: 26 stories, carried by 34 outlets; harsh wording in 96 in 100Kigali, Rwanda -- attacks & violence: 26 stories, carried by 66 outlets; harsh wording in 92 in 100Caribbean Sea, Belize -- accidents & disasters: 9 stories, carried by 27 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Sofia, Bulgaria -- protests & strikes: 17 stories, carried by 36 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Kabul, Afghanistan -- attacks & violence: 60 stories, carried by 68 outlets; harsh wording in 88 in 100Omsk, Russia -- disease & outbreaks: 23 stories, carried by 30 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Jeju, South Korea -- accidents & disasters: 12 stories, carried by 46 outlets; harsh wording in 83 in 100Bamako, Mali -- attacks & violence: 18 stories, carried by 61 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Karachi, Pakistan -- accidents & disasters: 70 stories, carried by 70 outlets; harsh wording in 90 in 100Canary Islands, Spain -- protests & strikes: 11 stories, carried by 90 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Reykjavik, Iceland -- disease & outbreaks: 20 stories, carried by 55 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Baghdad, Iraq -- attacks & violence: 54 stories, carried by 86 outlets; harsh wording in 89 in 100Berlin, Germany -- disease & outbreaks: 83 stories, carried by 120 outlets; harsh wording in 82 in 100Minsk, Belarus -- protests & strikes: 58 stories, carried by 122 outlets; harsh wording in 95 in 100Belize City, Belize -- accidents & disasters: 28 stories, carried by 95 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Beirut, Lebanon -- attacks & violence: 185 stories, carried by 308 outlets; harsh wording in 87 in 100Portland, US -- protests & strikes: 123 stories, carried by 281 outlets; harsh wording in 91 in 100Paris, France -- attacks & violence: 205 stories, carried by 371 outlets; harsh wording in 97 in 100Moscow, Russia -- disease & outbreaks: 281 stories, carried by 623 outlets; harsh wording in 94 in 100Kenosha, US -- protests & strikes: 599 stories, carried by 903 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

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.