← 2 Dec Thursday 3 December 2020 · to 23:59 UTC 4 Dec →
What the world's news said happened to people.
Counts of coverage, not of suffering
25,840 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 cyclone in Sri Lanka, arrests in Hong Kong and people affected in Azerbaijan drew the news. Azerbaijan's coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's. Over the whole world, the tone was much softer than usual.

Help and hope: reports of vaccination ran at about one and a half times the usual rate →
Part of lifeHealth 62 in 100 of the stories about harm · more than usual Country that rose mostHong Kong 52 in 100 of its 149 stories, usually 34
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

Sri Lanka

86 of its 202 stories (43%) were about people being harmed, usually 34%. Reports of evacuations ran at more than ten times the usual rate (5 stories). Cyclone was named in 22 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual. Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's. Anger in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.

Rights & justice

Hong Kong

78 of its 149 stories (52%) were about people being harmed, usually 34%. Reports of arrests ran at about twice the usual rate (23 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.

Conflict & violence

Azerbaijan

47 of its 86 stories (55%) were about people being harmed, usually 44%. Reports of people affected ran at about 4 times the usual rate (21 stories). Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's.

6 more places the news pointed at
Health

Lebanon

85 of its 174 stories (49%) were about people being harmed, usually 39%. Beirut accounted for 55 of Lebanon's 85 stories about harm, carried by 106 outlets. Reports of arrests ran at about twice the usual rate (15 stories).

Health

Thailand

Reports of people affected ran at about three times the usual rate (15 stories). Flooding was named in 20 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual, with heavy rain. Grief in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.

Health

Samoa

13 of its 15 stories (87%) were about people being harmed, usually 25%. Measles was named in 10 of its stories about harm, about 5 times usual.

Health

South Korea

158 of its 403 stories (39%) were about people being harmed, usually 30%. Seoul accounted for 103 of South Korea's 158 stories about harm, carried by 206 outlets.

Health

Malawi

31 of its 77 stories (40%) were about people being harmed, usually 28%. Reports of people affected ran at about twice the usual rate (6 stories).

Displacement

Ethiopia

Tigray accounted for 83 of Ethiopia's 108 stories about harm, carried by 93 outlets. Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.

Also named far more than usual: flooding in Thailand (20 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); measles in Samoa (10 of its stories, about 5 times its usual); wildfires in France (14 of its stories, about 8 times its usual); natural hazards in China (25 of its stories, about 4 times its usual); house fires in Australia (11 of its stories, about 5 times its usual).

25 in 100 stories were about harm

usually 26; 25 the day before
30 in 10023 in 10011 Oct23 Oct18 Nov25 Nov3 Dec11 Oct: 29 in 10012 Oct: 27 in 10014 Oct: 26 in 10015 Oct: 25 in 10018 Oct: 29 in 10019 Oct: 26 in 10022 Oct: 25 in 10023 Oct: 27 in 10027 Oct: 26 in 1005 Nov: 23 in 10011 Nov: 25 in 10012 Nov: 26 in 10013 Nov: 27 in 10015 Nov: 30 in 10018 Nov: 26 in 10019 Nov: 26 in 10020 Nov: 26 in 10021 Nov: 26 in 10022 Nov: 28 in 10023 Nov: 26 in 10024 Nov: 25 in 10025 Nov: 25 in 10026 Nov: 25 in 10027 Nov: 25 in 10028 Nov: 26 in 10029 Nov: 26 in 10030 Nov: 25 in 1001 Dec: 25 in 1002 Dec: 25 in 1003 Dec: 25 in 100 · this day

Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 3 Dec. 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 25,840 stories about harm among 102,724 counted on 3 Dec.

Read the day's briefing

The news turned to Sri Lanka for the fourth day running. 25 in every 100 of the day's 102,724 news stories were about people being harmed, as usual. On the side of help, reports of vaccination ran at about one and a half times the usual rate. On 4 December 2019, a year earlier, the share was 16 in every 100, against 25 today. Sri Lanka's news was 43% about people being harmed, against a usual 34%.

Written by code from the day's numbers.

Where it happened

feelings in full →
Feelings Events Harm Warmth
Busan, South Korea -- attacks & violence: 6 stories, carried by 14 outlets; harsh wording in 83 in 100Cumbria, UK -- accidents & disasters: 5 stories, carried by 17 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Borno State, Nigeria -- attacks & violence: 24 stories, carried by 16 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Donegal, Ireland -- accidents & disasters: 28 stories, carried by 21 outlets; harsh wording in 93 in 100Fraser Island, Australia -- accidents & disasters: 10 stories, carried by 15 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand -- accidents & disasters: 12 stories, carried by 15 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Baku, Azerbaijan -- attacks & violence: 13 stories, carried by 17 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Bellinzona, Switzerland -- attacks & violence: 11 stories, carried by 19 outlets; harsh wording in 91 in 100Pamban, India -- accidents & disasters: 24 stories, carried by 18 outlets; harsh wording in 92 in 100Ompundja, Namibia -- attacks & violence: 15 stories, carried by 24 outlets; harsh wording in 93 in 100Port Arthur, Australia -- attacks & violence: 6 stories, carried by 18 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Vienna, Austria -- attacks & violence: 12 stories, carried by 49 outlets; harsh wording in 83 in 100Izmir, Türkiye -- accidents & disasters: 7 stories, carried by 44 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Haryana, India -- attacks & violence: 21 stories, carried by 61 outlets; harsh wording in 90 in 100Dhaka, Bangladesh -- people displaced: 47 stories, carried by 85 outlets; harsh wording in 83 in 100Maiduguri, Nigeria -- attacks & violence: 25 stories, carried by 34 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Damascus, Syria -- protests & strikes: 12 stories, carried by 72 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Kabul, Afghanistan -- attacks & violence: 34 stories, carried by 51 outlets; harsh wording in 94 in 100Baghdad, Iraq -- attacks & violence: 30 stories, carried by 99 outlets; harsh wording in 97 in 100Artsakh, Azerbaijan -- attacks & violence: 20 stories, carried by 61 outlets; harsh wording in 95 in 100Haines Borough, US -- accidents & disasters: 34 stories, carried by 65 outlets; harsh wording in 91 in 100Tigray, Ethiopia -- people displaced: 83 stories, carried by 93 outlets; harsh wording in 98 in 100Tehran, Iran -- attacks & violence: 107 stories, carried by 103 outlets; harsh wording in 97 in 100Alaska, US -- accidents & disasters: 35 stories, carried by 148 outlets; harsh wording in 80 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.

● Angera little less than 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.