← 5 Aug Friday 6 August 2021 · to 23:59 UTC 11 Aug →
What the world's news said happened to people.
Counts of coverage, not of suffering
17,087 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 wildfires in Greece, people affected in Saudi Arabia and protests in Khartoum (Sudan). Saudi Arabia's coverage was about twice as angry as the world's. In the world's news as a whole, the wording was much softer than usual.

Part of lifeHealth 53 in 100 of the stories about harm · more than usual Country that rose mostSaudi Arabia 52 in 100 of its 130 stories, usually 29
RegionCentral Asia 46 in 100 of its stories, usually 34
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 →
Disasters & accidents

Greece

116 of its 266 stories (44%) were about people being harmed, usually 29%. Athens accounted for 88 of Greece's 116 stories about harm, carried by 220 outlets. Reports of evacuations ran at about 10 times the usual rate (63 stories). Wildfires were named in 70 of its stories about harm, about 4 times usual, with storms.

Conflict & violence

Saudi Arabia

68 of its 130 stories (52%) were about people being harmed, usually 29%. Reports of people affected ran at about 7 times the usual rate (18 stories). Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.

Health

Russia

137 of its 434 stories (32%) were about people being harmed, usually 25%. Reports of people injured ran at about twice the usual rate (6 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's.

6 more places the news pointed at
Conflict & violence

Chad

13 of its 25 stories (52%) were about people being harmed, usually 20%. Reports of people displaced ran at more than ten times the usual rate (5 stories). 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.

Conflict & violence

Afghanistan

306 of its 415 stories (74%) were about people being harmed, usually 62%. Kabul accounted for 141 of Afghanistan's 306 stories about harm, carried by 329 outlets. Its coverage was about three times as angry as the world's.

Protests & strikes

Palestine

38 of its 65 stories (58%) were about people being harmed, usually 48%. 15 of Beita's 18 stories were about protests or strikes. Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's.

Conflict & violence

Syria

31 of its 40 stories (78%) were about people being harmed, usually 52%. Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.

Disasters & accidents

Cyprus

9 of its 17 stories (53%) were about people being harmed, usually 18%. Reports of people killed ran at about twice the usual rate (6 stories).

Disasters & accidents

South Sudan

21 of its 29 stories (72%) were about people being harmed, usually 49%. Flooding was named in 12 of its stories about harm, about 5 times usual.

Also named far more than usual: flooding in South Sudan (12 of its stories, about 5 times its usual); drought in Brazil (10 of its stories, about three times its usual); accidents in South Korea (10 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); flooding in Ireland (10 of its stories, about three times its usual); hepatitis in Canada (16 of its stories, about 6 times its usual).

24 in 100 stories were about harm

usually 24; 24 the day before
26 in 10021 in 1008 Jul15 Jul22 Jul29 Jul6 Aug8 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 10021 Jul: 23 in 10022 Jul: 23 in 10023 Jul: 24 in 10024 Jul: 25 in 10025 Jul: 25 in 10026 Jul: 24 in 10027 Jul: 23 in 10028 Jul: 23 in 10029 Jul: 23 in 10030 Jul: 24 in 10031 Jul: 25 in 1001 Aug: 25 in 1002 Aug: 24 in 1003 Aug: 23 in 1004 Aug: 21 in 1005 Aug: 24 in 1006 Aug: 24 in 100 · this day

Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 6 Aug. 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 17,087 stories about harm among 72,172 counted on 6 Aug.

Read the day's briefing

The news turned to Greece for the fourth day running. 24 in every 100 of the day's 72,172 news stories were about people being harmed, as usual. A year earlier, on 6 August 2020, 29 in every 100 stories were about people being harmed, against 24 today. Greece stood out: 44% of its news was about people being harmed, usually 29%.

Written by code from the day's numbers.

Where it happened

feelings in full →
Feelings Events Harm Warmth
Cabo Delgado, Mozambique -- attacks & violence: 8 stories, carried by 11 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Navan, Ireland -- accidents & disasters: 17 stories, carried by 20 outlets; harsh wording in 94 in 100Ayod, South Sudan -- accidents & disasters: 12 stories, carried by 18 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Gulf of Oman, Iran -- attacks & violence: 14 stories, carried by 22 outlets; harsh wording in 93 in 100Port-au-Prince, Haiti -- protests & strikes: 5 stories, carried by 15 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Amman, Jordan -- attacks & violence: 12 stories, carried by 16 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Sanaa, Yemen -- attacks & violence: 6 stories, carried by 15 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Jerusalem, Israel -- attacks & violence: 41 stories, carried by 57 outlets; harsh wording in 95 in 100Rahim Yar Khan, Pakistan -- protests & strikes: 19 stories, carried by 33 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Mexico City, Mexico -- protests & strikes: 8 stories, carried by 56 outlets; harsh wording in 88 in 100Beita, Palestine -- protests & strikes: 18 stories, carried by 41 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Lossiemouth, UK -- accidents & disasters: 8 stories, carried by 53 outlets; harsh wording in 75 in 100Tigray, Ethiopia -- attacks & violence: 30 stories, carried by 89 outlets; harsh wording in 93 in 100Beirut, Lebanon -- attacks & violence: 48 stories, carried by 101 outlets; harsh wording in 96 in 100Mugla, Türkiye -- accidents & disasters: 14 stories, carried by 85 outlets; harsh wording in 93 in 100Galilee, Israel -- attacks & violence: 21 stories, carried by 76 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Xinjiang, China -- attacks & violence: 23 stories, carried by 125 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Hiroshima, Japan -- attacks & violence: 100 stories, carried by 104 outlets; harsh wording in 95 in 100Herat, Afghanistan -- attacks & violence: 43 stories, carried by 104 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Ahrweiler, Germany -- accidents & disasters: 17 stories, carried by 113 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Ketchikan, US -- accidents & disasters: 41 stories, carried by 159 outlets; harsh wording in 98 in 100Athens, Greece -- accidents & disasters: 88 stories, carried by 220 outlets; harsh wording in 95 in 100Kabul, Afghanistan -- attacks & violence: 141 stories, carried by 329 outlets; harsh wording in 99 in 100Greenville, US -- accidents & disasters: 125 stories, carried by 410 outlets; harsh wording in 99 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
● 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.