← 1 Oct Friday 2 October 2020 · to 23:59 UTC 3 Oct →
What the world's news said happened to people.
Counts of coverage, not of suffering
24,098 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 protests in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), violence in Yerevan and people injured in Poland. Armenia's coverage was about three times as angry as the world's. In the world's news as a whole, the wording was much softer than usual.

Reports of people falling ill ran at about twice the usual rate, most often about the US and Canada →
Part of lifeHealth 62 in 100 of the stories about harm · much more than usual Country that rose mostSaudi Arabia 56 in 100 of its 174 stories, usually 35
RegionEast Asia 33 in 100 of its stories, usually 29
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 →
Protests & strikes

Saudi Arabia

98 of its 174 stories (56%) were about people being harmed, usually 35%. Riyadh accounted for 55 of Saudi Arabia's 98 stories about harm, carried by 105 outlets. 29 of Riyadh's 55 stories were about protests or strikes. Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's.

Conflict & violence

Armenia

94 of its 180 stories (52%) were about people being harmed, usually 33%. Yerevan accounted for 42 of Armenia's 94 stories about harm, carried by 113 outlets. Reports of people injured ran at about twice the usual rate (40 stories). Its coverage was about three times as angry as the world's. Fear in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.

Health

Poland

36 of its 86 stories (42%) were about people being harmed, usually 23%. Reports of people injured ran at more than ten times the usual rate (5 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

Azerbaijan

69 of its 136 stories (51%) were about people being harmed, usually 30%. Artsakh accounted for 38 of Azerbaijan's 69 stories about harm, carried by 24 outlets. Its coverage was about three times as angry as the world's. Fear in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.

Health

Romania

33 of its 88 stories (38%) were about people being harmed, usually 23%. Anger in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.

Health

Libya

42 of its 75 stories (56%) were about people being harmed, usually 42%. Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.

Conflict & violence

Türkiye

148 of its 385 stories (38%) were about people being harmed, usually 32%. Its coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's.

Health

Norway

36 of its 123 stories (29%) were about people being harmed, usually 22%. Reports of people affected ran at about 5 times the usual rate (9 stories).

Health

Israel

Jerusalem accounted for 80 of Israel's 138 stories about harm, carried by 80 outlets. Malaria was named in 16 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual, with flu.

Also named far more than usual: tropical storm in Mexico (32 of its stories, about 4 times its usual); malaria in Iran (11 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); malaria in Israel (16 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); flu in Brazil (10 of its stories, about three times its usual); heavy rain in UK (76 of its stories, about 6 times its usual).

28 in 100 stories were about harm

usually 27; 26 the day before
31 in 10025 in 1003 Sep10 Sep17 Sep24 Sep2 Oct3 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 10024 Sep: 26 in 10025 Sep: 26 in 10026 Sep: 28 in 10027 Sep: 27 in 10028 Sep: 25 in 10029 Sep: 25 in 10030 Sep: 26 in 1001 Oct: 26 in 1002 Oct: 28 in 100 · this day

Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 2 Oct. 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 24,098 stories about harm among 87,005 counted on 2 Oct.

Read the day's briefing

Reports of people falling ill ran at about twice the usual rate, most often about the US and Canada. of the day's 87,005 news stories, 28 in every 100 were about people being harmed, as usual. Mexico's news mentioned tropical storm about 4 times as often as usual. On 3 October 2019, a year earlier, the share was 17 in every 100, against 28 today. In Saudi Arabia, 56% 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
Fribourg, Switzerland -- attacks & violence: 12 stories, carried by 25 outlets; harsh wording in 75 in 100Pantanal, Brazil -- accidents & disasters: 9 stories, carried by 11 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Causeway Bay, Hong Kong -- protests & strikes: 14 stories, carried by 21 outlets; harsh wording in 93 in 100Xinjiang, China -- protests & strikes: 14 stories, carried by 22 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Gulf of Mexico, Mexico -- accidents & disasters: 14 stories, carried by 16 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Punta Herrero, Mexico -- accidents & disasters: 9 stories, carried by 16 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Pyongyang, North Korea -- accidents & disasters: 11 stories, carried by 16 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Artsakh, Azerbaijan -- attacks & violence: 38 stories, carried by 24 outlets; harsh wording in 97 in 100Beirut, Lebanon -- accidents & disasters: 67 stories, carried by 84 outlets; harsh wording in 84 in 100Baku, Azerbaijan -- attacks & violence: 19 stories, carried by 31 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Mandalay, Myanmar -- attacks & violence: 8 stories, carried by 29 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Karabakh, Russia -- attacks & violence: 19 stories, carried by 27 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Azeri, Armenia -- attacks & violence: 25 stories, carried by 31 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Aleppo, Syria -- attacks & violence: 11 stories, carried by 37 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Hathras, India -- protests & strikes: 216 stories, carried by 64 outlets; harsh wording in 99 in 100Napa Valley, US -- accidents & disasters: 21 stories, carried by 95 outlets; harsh wording in 90 in 100Baghdad, Iraq -- attacks & violence: 18 stories, carried by 78 outlets; harsh wording in 94 in 100Riyadh, Saudi Arabia -- protests & strikes: 55 stories, carried by 105 outlets; harsh wording in 89 in 100Jerusalem, Israel -- disease & outbreaks: 80 stories, carried by 80 outlets; harsh wording in 92 in 100Minsk, Belarus -- protests & strikes: 35 stories, carried by 78 outlets; harsh wording in 94 in 100Ankara, Türkiye -- attacks & violence: 52 stories, carried by 137 outlets; harsh wording in 98 in 100Yerevan, Armenia -- attacks & violence: 42 stories, carried by 113 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Tehran, Iran -- disease & outbreaks: 20 stories, carried by 235 outlets; harsh wording in 95 in 100Sonoma, US -- accidents & disasters: 58 stories, carried by 241 outlets; harsh wording in 95 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
● Griefa little less than 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.