← 22 Sep Wednesday 23 September 2020 · to 23:59 UTC 24 Sep →
What the world's news said happened to people.
Counts of coverage, not of suffering
28,781 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 day's news pointed at illness in Jerusalem, protests in Douala (Cameroon) and arrests in Mali. Cameroon's coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's. Language across the world's news ran much softer than usual.

Part of lifeHealth 58 in 100 of the stories about harm · more than usual Country that rose mostChile 49 in 100 of its 112 stories, usually 32
RegionOceania 29 in 100 of its stories, usually 26
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

Israel

253 of its 604 stories (42%) were about people being harmed, usually 35%. Jerusalem accounted for 131 of Israel's 253 stories about harm, carried by 144 outlets. Flu was named in 12 of its stories about harm, about 5 times usual. Its coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's.

Conflict & violence

Mali

29 of its 52 stories (56%) were about people being harmed, usually 45%. Reports of arrests ran at about 5 times the usual rate (5 stories).

6 more places the news pointed at
Health

Jersey

34 of its 93 stories (37%) were about people being harmed, usually 21%. Reports of people killed ran at about 4 times the usual rate (16 stories). Grief in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.

Health

Austria

44 of its 122 stories (36%) were about people being harmed, usually 24%. Reports of people killed ran at about three times the usual rate (20 stories). Outbreaks were named in 25 of its stories about harm, about 9 times usual.

Protests & strikes

Belarus

Minsk accounted for 89 of Belarus' 109 stories about harm, carried by 307 outlets. 82 of Minsk's 89 stories were about protests or strikes. Its coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's.

Health

Chile

55 of its 112 stories (49%) were about people being harmed, usually 32%. Ebola was named in 25 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual.

Health

Denmark

42 of its 103 stories (41%) were about people being harmed, usually 25%. Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.

Health

Sweden

94 of its 216 stories (44%) were about people being harmed, usually 32%. Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.

Also named far more than usual: outbreaks in Austria (25 of its stories, about 9 times its usual); ebola in Chile (25 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); plague in China (100 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); wildfires in Brazil (10 of its stories, about 4 times its usual); flu in Japan (15 of its stories, about 6 times its usual).

26 in 100 stories were about harm

usually 28; 26 the day before
31 in 10026 in 10025 Aug1 Sep8 Sep15 Sep23 Sep25 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 10023 Sep: 26 in 100 · this day

Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 23 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 28,781 stories about harm among 111,205 counted on 23 Sep.

Read the day's briefing

It was the lowest share of stories about people being harmed since 5 March 2020. In Austria's news, mentions of outbreaks ran about 9 times their usual. On 24 September 2019, a year earlier, the share was 18 in every 100, against 26 today. 26 in every 100 of the day's 111,205 news stories were about people being harmed, below the usual 28.

Written by code from the day's numbers.

Where it happened

feelings in full →
Feelings Events Harm Warmth
Sirte, Libya -- attacks & violence: 5 stories, carried by 10 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Khartoum, Sudan -- attacks & violence: 19 stories, carried by 27 outlets; harsh wording in 89 in 100Rabat, Morocco -- protests & strikes: 7 stories, carried by 19 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Pantanal, Brazil -- accidents & disasters: 14 stories, carried by 27 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Bamako, Mali -- attacks & violence: 19 stories, carried by 40 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Bougainville, Papua New Guinea -- attacks & violence: 15 stories, carried by 32 outlets; harsh wording in 60 in 100Kogi, Nigeria -- accidents & disasters: 30 stories, carried by 27 outlets; harsh wording in 93 in 100Lokoja, Nigeria -- accidents & disasters: 25 stories, carried by 21 outlets; harsh wording in 96 in 100Prince Edward Island, Canada -- accidents & disasters: 12 stories, carried by 26 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Greenock, UK -- accidents & disasters: 14 stories, carried by 43 outlets; harsh wording in 79 in 100Macquarie Harbour, Australia -- accidents & disasters: 50 stories, carried by 70 outlets; harsh wording in 62 in 100Red Deer, Canada -- protests & strikes: 8 stories, carried by 36 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Kabul, Afghanistan -- attacks & violence: 63 stories, carried by 67 outlets; harsh wording in 78 in 100Vienna, Austria -- disease & outbreaks: 7 stories, carried by 70 outlets; harsh wording in 86 in 100Tehran, Iran -- attacks & violence: 71 stories, carried by 142 outlets; harsh wording in 93 in 100Lesbos, Greece -- people displaced: 37 stories, carried by 96 outlets; harsh wording in 95 in 100Mumbai, India -- accidents & disasters: 287 stories, carried by 175 outlets; harsh wording in 88 in 100Dunsborough, Australia -- accidents & disasters: 24 stories, carried by 87 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Ischgl, Austria -- disease & outbreaks: 22 stories, carried by 88 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Houston, US -- accidents & disasters: 242 stories, carried by 406 outlets; harsh wording in 84 in 100Wuhan, China -- disease & outbreaks: 90 stories, carried by 244 outlets; harsh wording in 97 in 100Beijing, China -- disease & outbreaks: 249 stories, carried by 386 outlets; harsh wording in 90 in 100Minsk, Belarus -- protests & strikes: 89 stories, carried by 307 outlets; harsh wording in 99 in 100Louisville, US -- protests & strikes: 249 stories, carried by 563 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 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.