← 3 Sep Friday 4 September 2020 · to 23:59 UTC 5 Sep →
What the world's news said happened to people.
Counts of coverage, not of suffering
26,571 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 →

The news turned to oil spill in Sri Lanka, violence in Baramulla and illness in Moscow. Kashmir's coverage was about twice as fearful as the world's. In the world's news as a whole, the wording was about as usual.

Part of lifeHealth 56 in 100 of the stories about harm · about as usual Country that rose mostSri Lanka 54 in 100 of its 269 stories, usually 30
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 →
Disasters & accidents

Sri Lanka

146 of its 269 stories (54%) were about people being harmed, usually 30%. Reports of people affected ran at about 8 times the usual rate (55 stories). Oil spill was named in 68 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual, with tsunami. Fear in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.

Conflict & violence

Kashmir

102 of its 164 stories (62%) were about people being harmed, usually 53%. Baramulla accounted for 42 of Kashmir's 102 stories about harm, carried by 23 outlets. Reports of evacuations ran at about three times the usual rate (8 stories). Its coverage was about twice as fearful as the world's.

Rights & justice

Libya

30 of its 52 stories (58%) were about people being harmed, usually 43%. Tripoli accounted for 23 of Libya's 30 stories about harm, carried by 26 outlets. Reports of arrests ran at about 4 times the usual rate (5 stories).

6 more places the news pointed at
Protests & strikes

Portugal

26 of its 88 stories (30%) were about people being harmed, usually 18%. 6 of Lisbon's 12 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of people killed ran at about three times the usual rate (12 stories).

Protests & strikes

Belarus

Minsk accounted for 59 of Belarus' 91 stories about harm, carried by 162 outlets. 55 of Minsk's 59 stories were about protests or strikes. Its coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's.

Health

Congo

23 of its 30 stories (77%) were about people being harmed, usually 53%. Its coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's.

Disasters & accidents

Belize

35 of its 68 stories (51%) were about people being harmed, usually 37%. Heavy rain was named in 10 of its stories about harm, about 4 times usual.

Conflict & violence

Sudan

34 of its 49 stories (69%) were about people being harmed, usually 54%. Reports of people displaced ran at about twice the usual rate (12 stories).

Conflict & violence

Cameroon

21 of its 38 stories (55%) were about people being harmed, usually 39%. Reports of refugees ran at about three times the usual rate (5 stories).

Also named far more than usual: outbreaks in Malawi (12 of its stories, about 4 times its usual); respiratory illness in Italy (29 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); storms in Japan (46 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); heavy rain in Belize (10 of its stories, about 4 times its usual); heatwave in Lebanon (23 of its stories, more than ten times its usual).

27 in 100 stories were about harm

usually 29; 27 the day before
32 in 10027 in 1006 Aug13 Aug20 Aug27 Aug4 Sep6 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 1003 Sep: 27 in 1004 Sep: 27 in 100 · this day

Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 4 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 26,571 stories about harm among 99,433 counted on 4 Sep.

Read the day's briefing

The share of stories about people being harmed was the lowest since 6 March 2020. 27 in every 100 of the day's 99,433 news stories were about people being harmed, below the usual 29. In Sri Lanka's news, mentions of oil spill ran more than ten times their usual. On 5 September 2019, a year earlier, the share was 22 in every 100, against 27 today. Sri Lanka's news was 54% about people being harmed, against a usual 30%.

Written by code from the day's numbers.

Where it happened

feelings in full →
Feelings Events Harm Warmth
Karachi, Pakistan -- accidents & disasters: 80 stories, carried by 26 outlets; harsh wording in 90 in 100North Waziristan, Pakistan -- attacks & violence: 8 stories, carried by 15 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Paradip, India -- accidents & disasters: 16 stories, carried by 16 outlets; harsh wording in 94 in 100Kabul, Afghanistan -- attacks & violence: 32 stories, carried by 43 outlets; harsh wording in 84 in 100Ramallah, Palestine -- attacks & violence: 39 stories, carried by 37 outlets; harsh wording in 92 in 100Baramulla, Kashmir -- attacks & violence: 42 stories, carried by 23 outlets; harsh wording in 98 in 100San Salvador, el Salvador -- attacks & violence: 6 stories, carried by 28 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Balaka, Malawi -- disease & outbreaks: 12 stories, carried by 26 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100East China Sea, Japan -- accidents & disasters: 26 stories, carried by 30 outlets; harsh wording in 85 in 100Rome, Italy -- disease & outbreaks: 22 stories, carried by 47 outlets; harsh wording in 82 in 100Belize City, Belize -- accidents & disasters: 16 stories, carried by 34 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Sangamankanda Point, Sri Lanka -- accidents & disasters: 27 stories, carried by 33 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Belleau Wood, France -- attacks & violence: 32 stories, carried by 33 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Khartoum, Sudan -- accidents & disasters: 15 stories, carried by 55 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Colombo, Sri Lanka -- accidents & disasters: 36 stories, carried by 44 outlets; harsh wording in 92 in 100Bamako, Mali -- attacks & violence: 12 stories, carried by 39 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Solingen, Germany -- deaths, cause not given: 40 stories, carried by 82 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Shiraz, Iran -- protests & strikes: 16 stories, carried by 52 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Beirut, Lebanon -- attacks & violence: 227 stories, carried by 422 outlets; harsh wording in 92 in 100Milan, Italy -- disease & outbreaks: 57 stories, carried by 105 outlets; harsh wording in 88 in 100Minsk, Belarus -- protests & strikes: 59 stories, carried by 162 outlets; harsh wording in 98 in 100Amami Oshima, Japan -- accidents & disasters: 64 stories, carried by 221 outlets; harsh wording in 86 in 100Rochester, US -- protests & strikes: 185 stories, carried by 609 outlets; harsh wording in 98 in 100Portland, US -- protests & strikes: 234 stories, carried by 627 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
● 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.