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What the world's news said happened to people.
Counts of coverage, not of suffering
24,851 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 →

Protests in Guayaquil (Ecuador), people killed in Saudi Arabia and rights and justice in Damascus drew the news. Ecuador's coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's. Over the whole world, the tone was softer than usual.

Part of lifeHealth 55 in 100 of the stories about harm · about as usual Country that rose mostEcuador 81 in 100 of its 54 stories, usually 42
RegionMiddle East & North Africa 41 in 100 of its stories, usually 36
Tone of the words Softer than usual across the world's stories about harm

What the world's news was about today

how these are picked →
Protests & strikes

Ecuador

44 of its 54 stories (81%) were about people being harmed, usually 42%. Guayaquil accounted for 25 of Ecuador's 44 stories about harm, carried by 36 outlets. 17 of Guayaquil's 25 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of arrests ran at about 4 times the usual rate (23 stories). Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's. Anger in its coverage rose to about twice its own usual.

Conflict & violence

Saudi Arabia

183 of its 355 stories (52%) were about people being harmed, usually 34%. Reports of people killed ran at about three times the usual rate (94 stories). Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's.

Disasters & accidents

Vanuatu

13 of its 14 stories (93%) were about people being harmed, usually 46%. Volcanic eruption was named in 12 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual.

6 more places the news pointed at
Protests & strikes

Myanmar

Yangon accounted for 44 of Myanmar's 85 stories about harm, carried by 63 outlets. 44 of Yangon's 44 stories were about protests or strikes. Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.

Health

Belgium

51 of its 126 stories (40%) were about people being harmed, usually 31%. Brussels accounted for 44 of Belgium's 51 stories about harm, carried by 130 outlets.

Health

Cambodia

25 of its 49 stories (51%) were about people being harmed, usually 38%. Reports of arrests ran at about twice the usual rate (6 stories).

Rights & justice

Sri Lanka

82 of its 207 stories (40%) were about people being harmed, usually 32%. Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's.

Health

Cameroon

17 of its 42 stories (40%) were about people being harmed, usually 27%. Reports of arrests ran at about 5 times the usual rate (5 stories).

Conflict & violence

Iran

88 of its 224 stories (39%) were about people being harmed, usually 32%. Its coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's.

Also named far more than usual: landslides in Indonesia (24 of its stories, about three times its usual); respiratory illness in Nigeria (13 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); train derailment in Australia (12 of its stories, more than ten times its usual).

25 in 100 stories were about harm

usually 26; 25 the day before
29 in 10024 in 10027 Jan3 Feb10 Feb17 Feb25 Feb27 Jan: 26 in 10028 Jan: 26 in 10029 Jan: 26 in 10030 Jan: 27 in 10031 Jan: 28 in 1001 Feb: 25 in 1002 Feb: 25 in 1003 Feb: 25 in 1004 Feb: 25 in 1005 Feb: 25 in 1006 Feb: 27 in 1007 Feb: 27 in 1008 Feb: 24 in 1009 Feb: 25 in 10010 Feb: 25 in 10011 Feb: 25 in 10012 Feb: 25 in 10013 Feb: 28 in 10014 Feb: 29 in 10015 Feb: 27 in 10016 Feb: 27 in 10017 Feb: 27 in 10018 Feb: 26 in 10019 Feb: 26 in 10020 Feb: 28 in 10021 Feb: 29 in 10022 Feb: 26 in 10023 Feb: 26 in 10024 Feb: 25 in 10025 Feb: 25 in 100 · this day

Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 25 Feb. 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 24,851 stories about harm among 101,010 counted on 25 Feb.

Read the day's briefing

The news turned to Ecuador for the third day running. 25 in every 100 of the day's 101,010 news stories were about people being harmed, below the usual 26. In Vanuatu's news, mentions of volcanic eruption ran more than ten times their usual. Ecuador stood out: 81% of its news was about people being harmed, usually 42%. A year earlier, on 26 February 2020, 22 in every 100 stories were about people being harmed, against 25 today.

Written by code from the day's numbers.

Where it happened

feelings in full →
Feelings Events Harm Warmth
Brisbane, Australia -- accidents & disasters: 19 stories, carried by 31 outlets; harsh wording in 74 in 100Camogli, Italy -- accidents & disasters: 6 stories, carried by 10 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Tripoli, Libya -- attacks & violence: 17 stories, carried by 31 outlets; harsh wording in 82 in 100Khojaly, Azerbaijan -- attacks & violence: 13 stories, carried by 11 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Vayalar, India -- protests & strikes: 25 stories, carried by 17 outlets; harsh wording in 96 in 100Kaduna, Nigeria -- attacks & violence: 18 stories, carried by 24 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Valletta, Malta -- attacks & violence: 10 stories, carried by 18 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Maiduguri, Nigeria -- attacks & violence: 24 stories, carried by 20 outlets; harsh wording in 96 in 100Niamey, Niger -- protests & strikes: 13 stories, carried by 20 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Coffs Harbour, Australia -- accidents & disasters: 17 stories, carried by 28 outlets; harsh wording in 88 in 100Cacapava do Sul, Brazil -- accidents & disasters: 5 stories, carried by 22 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Jakarta, Indonesia -- accidents & disasters: 38 stories, carried by 65 outlets; harsh wording in 79 in 100Kutupalong, Bangladesh -- accidents & disasters: 7 stories, carried by 27 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Mexico City, Mexico -- protests & strikes: 12 stories, carried by 40 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Baghdad, Iraq -- attacks & violence: 23 stories, carried by 47 outlets; harsh wording in 83 in 100Islamabad, Pakistan -- attacks & violence: 69 stories, carried by 52 outlets; harsh wording in 93 in 100Guayaquil, Ecuador -- protests & strikes: 25 stories, carried by 36 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Rome, Italy -- attacks & violence: 38 stories, carried by 82 outlets; harsh wording in 79 in 100Aung Hlaing, Myanmar -- protests & strikes: 19 stories, carried by 81 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Yangon, Myanmar -- protests & strikes: 44 stories, carried by 63 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Dhahran, Saudi Arabia -- attacks & violence: 63 stories, carried by 64 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Yerevan, Armenia -- protests & strikes: 20 stories, carried by 99 outlets; harsh wording in 95 in 100Houston, US -- accidents & disasters: 217 stories, carried by 348 outlets; harsh wording in 82 in 100Texas, US -- accidents & disasters: 349 stories, carried by 475 outlets; harsh wording in 84 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 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.