← 19 Jul Tuesday 20 July 2021 · to 23:59 UTC 21 Jul →
What the world's news said happened to people.
Counts of coverage, not of suffering
19,473 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 violence in Baghdad, protests in Copenhagen (Denmark) and arrests in Benin. Iraq's coverage was about three times as angry as the world's. Taken together, the world's news read about as usual.

Part of lifeHealth 49 in 100 of the stories about harm · more than usual Country that rose mostMorocco 46 in 100 of its 96 stories, usually 23
RegionCentral Asia 41 in 100 of its stories, usually 32
Tone of the words About as usual across the world's stories about harm

What the world's news was about today

how these are picked →
Conflict & violence

Iraq

123 of its 164 stories (75%) were about people being harmed, usually 57%. Baghdad accounted for 108 of Iraq's 123 stories about harm, carried by 129 outlets. Reports of people injured ran at about three times the usual rate (93 stories). Its coverage was about three times as angry as the world's. Fear in its coverage rose to about twice its own usual.

6 more places the news pointed at
Protests & strikes

Myanmar

Yangon accounted for 22 of Myanmar's 30 stories about harm, carried by 33 outlets. 15 of Yangon's 22 stories were about protests or strikes. Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's.

Conflict & violence

Mali

Bamako accounted for 30 of Mali's 42 stories about harm, carried by 45 outlets. Reports of arrests ran at about three times the usual rate (7 stories). Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.

Conflict & violence

Kashmir

52 of its 96 stories (54%) were about people being harmed, usually 40%. Its coverage was about twice as fearful as the world's.

Protests & strikes

France

186 of its 730 stories (25%) were about people being harmed, usually 19%. 58 of Paris' 101 stories were about protests or strikes.

Protests & strikes

Peru

54 of its 172 stories (31%) were about people being harmed, usually 24%. 17 of Lima's 32 stories were about protests or strikes.

Health

Ireland

Heatstroke was named in 17 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual, with heatwave. Fear in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.

Also named far more than usual: flooding in China (52 of its stories, about 6 times its usual); heatwave in UK (116 of its stories, about 6 times its usual); heatstroke in Ireland (17 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); cholera in Nigeria (15 of its stories, about three times its usual); drought in Germany (10 of its stories, about 4 times its usual).

23 in 100 stories were about harm

usually 23; 23 the day before
26 in 10021 in 10021 Jun28 Jun5 Jul12 Jul20 Jul21 Jun: 22 in 10022 Jun: 21 in 10023 Jun: 21 in 10024 Jun: 22 in 10025 Jun: 23 in 10026 Jun: 25 in 10027 Jun: 25 in 10028 Jun: 23 in 10029 Jun: 22 in 10030 Jun: 22 in 1001 Jul: 22 in 1002 Jul: 23 in 1003 Jul: 25 in 1004 Jul: 25 in 1005 Jul: 24 in 1006 Jul: 23 in 1007 Jul: 22 in 1008 Jul: 22 in 1009 Jul: 23 in 10010 Jul: 25 in 10011 Jul: 25 in 10012 Jul: 23 in 10013 Jul: 23 in 10014 Jul: 22 in 10015 Jul: 23 in 10016 Jul: 24 in 10017 Jul: 26 in 10018 Jul: 25 in 10019 Jul: 23 in 10020 Jul: 23 in 100 · this day

Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 20 Jul. 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 19,473 stories about harm among 85,655 counted on 20 Jul.

Read the day's briefing

It was the second day running that the news turned to Iraq. of the day's 85,655 news stories, 23 in every 100 were about people being harmed, as usual. China's news mentioned flooding about 6 times as often as usual. A year earlier, on 20 July 2020, 30 in every 100 stories were about people being harmed, against 23 today. In Iraq, 75% of the news was about people being harmed, where 57% is usual.

Written by code from the day's numbers.

Where it happened

feelings in full →
Feelings Events Harm Warmth
Okanagan, Canada -- accidents & disasters: 20 stories, carried by 24 outlets; harsh wording in 95 in 100Matanzas, Cuba -- protests & strikes: 5 stories, carried by 20 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Fort Mcmurray, Canada -- accidents & disasters: 8 stories, carried by 19 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Ankara, Türkiye -- attacks & violence: 10 stories, carried by 47 outlets; harsh wording in 90 in 100Zhengzhou, China -- accidents & disasters: 21 stories, carried by 30 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Yangon, Myanmar -- protests & strikes: 22 stories, carried by 33 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Lima, Peru -- protests & strikes: 32 stories, carried by 59 outlets; harsh wording in 88 in 100Bogota, Colombia -- protests & strikes: 11 stories, carried by 34 outlets; harsh wording in 91 in 100Port-au-Prince, Haiti -- attacks & violence: 41 stories, carried by 71 outlets; harsh wording in 98 in 100Galkayo, Somalia -- attacks & violence: 8 stories, carried by 29 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Bridport, UK -- accidents & disasters: 10 stories, carried by 99 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Berlin, Germany -- accidents & disasters: 25 stories, carried by 68 outlets; harsh wording in 88 in 100Bamako, Mali -- attacks & violence: 30 stories, carried by 45 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Henan, China -- accidents & disasters: 29 stories, carried by 59 outlets; harsh wording in 97 in 100Verviers, Belgium -- accidents & disasters: 11 stories, carried by 72 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Jerusalem, Israel -- protests & strikes: 99 stories, carried by 152 outlets; harsh wording in 91 in 100Aleppo, Syria -- attacks & violence: 32 stories, carried by 105 outlets; harsh wording in 94 in 100Tucson, US -- accidents & disasters: 14 stories, carried by 119 outlets; harsh wording in 93 in 100Paris, France -- protests & strikes: 101 stories, carried by 199 outlets; harsh wording in 80 in 100Havana, Cuba -- protests & strikes: 55 stories, carried by 164 outlets; harsh wording in 98 in 100Ahrweiler, Germany -- accidents & disasters: 54 stories, carried by 120 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Baghdad, Iraq -- attacks & violence: 108 stories, carried by 129 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Kabul, Afghanistan -- attacks & violence: 83 stories, carried by 269 outlets; harsh wording in 89 in 100Klamath, US -- accidents & disasters: 13 stories, carried by 241 outlets; harsh wording in 100 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 about as 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.