← 21 Sep Tuesday 22 September 2020 · to 23:59 UTC 23 Sep →
What the world's news said happened to people.
Counts of coverage, not of suffering
27,586 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 →

Flooding in Indonesia, the earthquake in Kashmir and arrests in Malta drew the news. Colombia's coverage was about three times as angry as the world's. Taken together, the world's news read much softer than usual.

Part of lifeHealth 58 in 100 of the stories about harm · more than usual Country that rose mostBotswana 50 in 100 of its 70 stories, usually 29
RegionEvery region about as usual
Tone of the words Much softer than usual across the world's stories about harm

What the world's news was about today

how these are picked →
Health

Indonesia

125 of its 234 stories (53%) were about people being harmed, usually 45%. Jakarta accounted for 79 of Indonesia's 125 stories about harm, carried by 51 outlets. Reports of people injured ran at about 7 times the usual rate (12 stories). Flooding was named in 13 of its stories about harm, about 6 times usual, with landslides. Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's.

Conflict & violence

Kashmir

Jammu accounted for 52 of Kashmir's 81 stories about harm, carried by 30 outlets. Reports of refugees ran at about 9 times the usual rate (9 stories). Earthquake was named in 10 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual. Its coverage was about twice as fearful as the world's.

Rights & justice

Malta

29 of its 70 stories (41%) were about people being harmed, usually 29%. Reports of arrests ran at about three times the usual rate (8 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's.

6 more places the news pointed at
Health

Botswana

35 of its 70 stories (50%) were about people being harmed, usually 29%. Reports of people killed ran at about three times the usual rate (26 stories). Poisoning was named in 11 of its stories about harm, about 4 times usual. Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's.

Protests & strikes

Cameroon

5 of Douala's 6 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of arrests ran at about twice the usual rate (7 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's.

Displacement

Mozambique

Cabo Delgado accounted for 15 of Mozambique's 21 stories about harm, carried by 39 outlets. Reports of people displaced ran at about three times the usual rate (13 stories). Hunger was named in 10 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual.

Conflict & violence

Bulgaria

15 of its 39 stories (38%) were about people being harmed, usually 18%. Reports of people killed ran at about twice the usual rate (9 stories).

Health

Sweden

62 of its 153 stories (41%) were about people being harmed, usually 32%. Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.

Health

Vietnam

92 of its 240 stories (38%) were about people being harmed, usually 31%. Reports of people injured ran at about three times the usual rate (13 stories).

Also named far more than usual: dengue in Brazil (23 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); hunger in Mozambique (10 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); poisoning in Botswana (11 of its stories, about 4 times its usual); flu in South Korea (11 of its stories, about 7 times its usual); hurricane in Canada (55 of its stories, about 5 times its usual).

26 in 100 stories were about harm

usually 28; 26 the day before
31 in 10026 in 10024 Aug31 Aug7 Sep14 Sep22 Sep24 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 1005 Sep: 29 in 1006 Sep: 31 in 1007 Sep: 29 in 1008 Sep: 27 in 1009 Sep: 27 in 10010 Sep: 27 in 10011 Sep: 28 in 10012 Sep: 30 in 10013 Sep: 30 in 10014 Sep: 27 in 10015 Sep: 27 in 10016 Sep: 27 in 10017 Sep: 26 in 10018 Sep: 26 in 10019 Sep: 29 in 10020 Sep: 28 in 10021 Sep: 26 in 10022 Sep: 26 in 100 · this day

Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 22 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 27,586 stories about harm among 105,634 counted on 22 Sep.

Read the day's briefing

The share of stories about people being harmed was the lowest since 6 March 2020. Mentions of the dengue ran more than ten times their usual in Brazil's news. A year earlier, on 23 September 2019, 18 in every 100 stories were about people being harmed, against 26 today. Stories about people being harmed made up 26 in every 100 of the day's 105,634 stories, below the usual 28.

Written by code from the day's numbers.

Where it happened

feelings in full →
Feelings Events Harm Warmth
Idlib, Syria -- attacks & violence: 15 stories, carried by 13 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Darfur, Sudan -- attacks & violence: 8 stories, carried by 12 outlets; harsh wording in 88 in 100Damboa, Nigeria -- attacks & violence: 16 stories, carried by 13 outlets; harsh wording in 75 in 100Jammu, Kashmir -- attacks & violence: 52 stories, carried by 30 outlets; harsh wording in 85 in 100Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire -- attacks & violence: 9 stories, carried by 14 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Bogota, Colombia -- protests & strikes: 19 stories, carried by 21 outlets; harsh wording in 95 in 100Gaza, Palestine -- attacks & violence: 19 stories, carried by 23 outlets; harsh wording in 95 in 100Kabul, Afghanistan -- attacks & violence: 27 stories, carried by 35 outlets; harsh wording in 70 in 100Panja Sahib, Pakistan -- protests & strikes: 7 stories, carried by 20 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Gaborone, Botswana -- disease & outbreaks: 10 stories, carried by 25 outlets; harsh wording in 90 in 100Karachi, Pakistan -- accidents & disasters: 63 stories, carried by 59 outlets; harsh wording in 89 in 100Minas Gerais, Brazil -- protests & strikes: 15 stories, carried by 23 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Cabo Delgado, Mozambique -- people displaced: 15 stories, carried by 39 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Prince Edward Island, Canada -- accidents & disasters: 21 stories, carried by 40 outlets; harsh wording in 90 in 100Seoul, South Korea -- disease & outbreaks: 49 stories, carried by 46 outlets; harsh wording in 82 in 100Minsk, Belarus -- protests & strikes: 33 stories, carried by 45 outlets; harsh wording in 97 in 100Mumbai, India -- accidents & disasters: 208 stories, carried by 121 outlets; harsh wording in 92 in 100Pantanal, Brazil -- disease & outbreaks: 13 stories, carried by 63 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Macquarie Harbour, Australia -- accidents & disasters: 31 stories, carried by 139 outlets; harsh wording in 71 in 100Beirut, Lebanon -- attacks & violence: 101 stories, carried by 145 outlets; harsh wording in 94 in 100Red Deer, Canada -- protests & strikes: 6 stories, carried by 73 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Louisville, US -- protests & strikes: 52 stories, carried by 174 outlets; harsh wording in 88 in 100Tehran, Iran -- attacks & violence: 67 stories, carried by 180 outlets; harsh wording in 99 in 100Houston, US -- accidents & disasters: 291 stories, carried by 722 outlets; harsh wording in 88 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 much softer than 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

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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.