← 30 Apr Saturday 1 May 2021 · to 23:59 UTC 2 May →
What the world's news said happened to people.
Counts of coverage, not of suffering
12,760 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, violence in Kabul and protests in Ndjamena (Chad). Afghanistan's coverage was about three times as angry as the world's. Everywhere we counted, the words were harsher than usual.

Part of lifeHealth 54 in 100 of the stories about harm · about as usual Country that rose mostAfghanistan 76 in 100 of its 265 stories, usually 58
RegionCentral Asia 57 in 100 of its stories, usually 37
Tone of the words Harsher than usual across the world's stories about harm

What the world's news was about today

how these are picked →
Health

Israel

173 of its 293 stories (59%) were about people being harmed, usually 42%. Jerusalem accounted for 97 of Israel's 173 stories about harm, carried by 176 outlets. Reports of people injured ran at about 4 times the usual rate (88 stories). Plague was named in 11 of its stories about harm, about 5 times usual. Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's.

Conflict & violence

Afghanistan

201 of its 265 stories (76%) were about people being harmed, usually 58%. Kabul accounted for 125 of Afghanistan's 201 stories about harm, carried by 310 outlets. Reports of people displaced ran at about 8 times the usual rate (24 stories). Its coverage was about three times as angry as the world's.

6 more places the news pointed at
Health

Japan

116 of its 455 stories (25%) were about people being harmed, usually 16%. Reports of people injured ran at more than ten times the usual rate (12 stories). Earthquake was named in 41 of its stories about harm, about 4 times usual, with tsunami and landslides. Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.

Conflict & violence

Kyrgyzstan

48 of its 71 stories (68%) were about people being harmed, usually 48%. Reports of people injured ran at about 4 times the usual rate (36 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's.

Health

India

1,619 of its 3,676 stories (44%) were about people being harmed, usually 35%. Cholera was named in 17 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.

Health

UK

Reports of evacuations ran at about three times the usual rate (6 stories). Storms were named in 11 of its stories about harm, about 6 times usual. Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.

Health

Colombia

31 of its 53 stories (58%) were about people being harmed, usually 35%. Its coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's.

Health

Hong Kong

24 of its 42 stories (57%) were about people being harmed, usually 33%. Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.

Also named far more than usual: earthquake in Japan (41 of its stories, about 4 times its usual); covid in Sri Lanka (14 of its stories, about 4 times its usual); outbreaks in Taiwan (10 of its stories, about three times its usual); covid in Syria (10 of its stories, about three times its usual); storms in UK (11 of its stories, about 6 times its usual).

25 in 100 stories were about harm

usually 25; 24 the day before
28 in 10024 in 1002 Apr9 Apr16 Apr23 Apr1 May2 Apr: 26 in 1003 Apr: 27 in 1004 Apr: 28 in 1005 Apr: 26 in 1006 Apr: 25 in 1007 Apr: 25 in 1008 Apr: 25 in 1009 Apr: 25 in 10010 Apr: 27 in 10011 Apr: 28 in 10012 Apr: 25 in 10013 Apr: 26 in 10014 Apr: 25 in 10015 Apr: 24 in 10016 Apr: 25 in 10017 Apr: 27 in 10018 Apr: 28 in 10019 Apr: 25 in 10020 Apr: 25 in 10021 Apr: 24 in 10022 Apr: 24 in 10023 Apr: 24 in 10024 Apr: 28 in 10025 Apr: 28 in 10026 Apr: 24 in 10027 Apr: 24 in 10028 Apr: 24 in 10029 Apr: 24 in 10030 Apr: 24 in 1001 May: 25 in 100 · this day

Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 1 May. 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 12,760 stories about harm among 50,435 counted on 1 May.

Read the day's briefing

For the second day running, the news turned to Israel. Stories about people being harmed made up 25 in every 100 of the day's 50,435 stories, as usual. Mentions of the earthquake ran about 4 times their usual in Japan's news. A year earlier, on 1 May 2020, 35 in every 100 stories were about people being harmed, against 25 today. Israel stood out: 59% of its news was about people being harmed, usually 42%. Over April, 25 in every 100 stories were about people being harmed, against 39 in April 2020.

Written by code from the day's numbers.

Where it happened

feelings in full →
Feelings Events Harm Warmth
Tigray, Ethiopia -- attacks & violence: 18 stories, carried by 15 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Berlin, Germany -- protests & strikes: 18 stories, carried by 20 outlets; harsh wording in 78 in 100Nokou, Chad -- attacks & violence: 6 stories, carried by 10 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan -- attacks & violence: 13 stories, carried by 14 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Baghdad, Iraq -- attacks & violence: 11 stories, carried by 16 outlets; harsh wording in 91 in 100Xinjiang, China -- attacks & violence: 13 stories, carried by 21 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Yangon, Myanmar -- protests & strikes: 13 stories, carried by 16 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Ishinomaki, Japan -- accidents & disasters: 5 stories, carried by 16 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Batken, Kyrgyzstan -- attacks & violence: 19 stories, carried by 24 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Ghazni, Afghanistan -- attacks & violence: 13 stories, carried by 20 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Aleppo, Syria -- disease & outbreaks: 9 stories, carried by 43 outlets; harsh wording in 89 in 100Jakarta, Indonesia -- protests & strikes: 16 stories, carried by 40 outlets; harsh wording in 88 in 100Istanbul, Türkiye -- protests & strikes: 18 stories, carried by 37 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Mogadishu, Somalia -- attacks & violence: 7 stories, carried by 51 outlets; harsh wording in 86 in 100West Yorkshire, UK -- attacks & violence: 18 stories, carried by 92 outlets; harsh wording in 83 in 100Tokyo, Japan -- accidents & disasters: 63 stories, carried by 90 outlets; harsh wording in 92 in 100Bharuch, India -- accidents & disasters: 85 stories, carried by 77 outlets; harsh wording in 96 in 100Ndjamena, Chad -- protests & strikes: 11 stories, carried by 67 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Marion County, US -- protests & strikes: 22 stories, carried by 109 outlets; harsh wording in 91 in 100Nantong, China -- accidents & disasters: 16 stories, carried by 131 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Susanville, US -- protests & strikes: 8 stories, carried by 94 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Paris, France -- protests & strikes: 48 stories, carried by 198 outlets; harsh wording in 85 in 100Lampedusa, Italy -- accidents & disasters: 8 stories, carried by 181 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Kabul, Afghanistan -- attacks & violence: 125 stories, carried by 310 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 harsher 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.