← 25 Dec Sunday 26 December 2021 · to 23:59 UTC 27 Dec →
What the world's news said happened to people.
Counts of coverage, not of suffering
9,825 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 Cape Town (South Africa), violence in Kivu and drownings in Libya drew the news. Uganda's coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's. Across the world, the tone of the words was harsher than usual.

Help and hope: reports of peace efforts ran at about one and a half times the usual rate →
Part of lifeHealth 54 in 100 of the stories about harm · less than usual Country that rose mostMalaysia 69 in 100 of its 175 stories, usually 36
RegionSoutheast Asia 55 in 100 of its stories, usually 43
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 →
Protests & strikes

South Africa

552 of its 816 stories (68%) were about people being harmed, usually 54%. Cape Town accounted for 273 of South Africa's 552 stories about harm, carried by 607 outlets. 144 of Cape Town's 273 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of people killed ran at about three times the usual rate (258 stories). Tuberculosis was named in 68 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual, with polio. Its coverage was about one and a half times as warm as the world's.

Conflict & violence

Uganda

51 of its 64 stories (80%) were about people being harmed, usually 39%. Kivu accounted for 23 of Uganda's 51 stories about harm, carried by 48 outlets. Reports of people injured ran at more than ten times the usual rate (38 stories). Ebola was named in 10 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual. Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's.

Disasters & accidents

Libya

34 of its 50 stories (68%) were about people being harmed, usually 25%. Reports of people killed ran at about three times the usual rate (25 stories). Drownings were named in 10 of its stories about harm, about three times usual. Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.

Rights & justice

Thailand

76 of its 114 stories (67%) were about people being harmed, usually 40%. Reports of people affected ran at about 4 times the usual rate (24 stories). Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.

6 more places the news pointed at
Conflict & violence

Yemen

42 of its 55 stories (76%) were about people being harmed, usually 54%. Sanaa accounted for 22 of Yemen's 42 stories about harm, carried by 24 outlets. Reports of refugees ran at about three times the usual rate (5 stories). Its coverage was about three times as angry as the world's.

Disasters & accidents

Iraq

48 of its 75 stories (64%) were about people being harmed, usually 50%. Reports of people affected ran at about twice the usual rate (9 stories). Drownings were named in 18 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.

Conflict & violence

Congo

22 of its 23 stories (96%) were about people being harmed, usually 41%. Reports of people injured ran at about 4 times the usual rate (12 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's. Fear in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.

Health

France

113 of its 269 stories (42%) were about people being harmed, usually 26%. Paris accounted for 64 of France's 113 stories about harm, carried by 428 outlets. Reports of people killed ran at about 4 times the usual rate (77 stories).

Conflict & violence

Saudi Arabia

54 of its 140 stories (39%) were about people being harmed, usually 24%. Reports of evacuations ran at more than ten times the usual rate (5 stories). Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.

Disasters & accidents

Brazil

33 of its 94 stories (35%) were about people being harmed, usually 23%. Reports of people killed ran at about three times the usual rate (20 stories). Flooding was named in 15 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual, with heavy rain.

Also named far more than usual: drownings in Iraq (18 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); flooding in Brazil (15 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); volcanic eruption in Spain (15 of its stories, about 4 times its usual); avalanche in Afghanistan (10 of its stories, more than ten times its usual); extreme cold in Canada (18 of its stories, more than ten times its usual).

30 in 100 stories were about harm

usually 27; 29 the day before
30 in 10025 in 10027 Nov4 Dec11 Dec18 Dec26 Dec27 Nov: 27 in 10028 Nov: 28 in 10029 Nov: 27 in 10030 Nov: 26 in 1001 Dec: 26 in 1002 Dec: 25 in 1003 Dec: 26 in 1004 Dec: 27 in 1005 Dec: 27 in 1006 Dec: 26 in 1007 Dec: 25 in 1008 Dec: 25 in 1009 Dec: 25 in 10010 Dec: 25 in 10011 Dec: 27 in 10012 Dec: 27 in 10013 Dec: 27 in 10014 Dec: 27 in 10015 Dec: 26 in 10016 Dec: 26 in 10017 Dec: 26 in 10018 Dec: 27 in 10019 Dec: 27 in 10020 Dec: 27 in 10021 Dec: 27 in 10022 Dec: 27 in 10023 Dec: 28 in 10024 Dec: 28 in 10025 Dec: 29 in 10026 Dec: 30 in 100 · this day

Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 26 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 9,825 stories about harm among 33,051 counted on 26 Dec.

Read the day's briefing

It was the highest share of stories about people being harmed since 11 September 2021. On the side of help, reports of peace efforts ran at about one and a half times the usual rate. Iraq's news mentioned drownings more than ten times as often as usual. 30 in every 100 of the day's 33,051 news stories were about people being harmed, above the usual 27. This week the news turned most often to Sudan, on 5 of 7 days; help rose on 1 of them.

Written by code from the day's numbers.

Where it happened

feelings in full →
Feelings Events Harm Warmth
Wexford, Ireland -- accidents & disasters: 14 stories, carried by 15 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Kabul, Afghanistan -- attacks & violence: 45 stories, carried by 52 outlets; harsh wording in 91 in 100Pulwama, Kashmir -- attacks & violence: 23 stories, carried by 15 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Kampala, Uganda -- attacks & violence: 13 stories, carried by 16 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Erbil, Iraq -- accidents & disasters: 22 stories, carried by 32 outlets; harsh wording in 95 in 100Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso -- attacks & violence: 9 stories, carried by 51 outlets; harsh wording in 67 in 100Sanaa, Yemen -- attacks & violence: 22 stories, carried by 24 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Tripoli, Libya -- accidents & disasters: 6 stories, carried by 46 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Ballater, UK -- accidents & disasters: 7 stories, carried by 38 outlets; harsh wording in 86 in 100Athens, Greece -- accidents & disasters: 17 stories, carried by 57 outlets; harsh wording in 94 in 100Nablus, Palestine -- protests & strikes: 17 stories, carried by 30 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Loroum, Burkina Faso -- attacks & violence: 14 stories, carried by 29 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Ranya, Iraq -- accidents & disasters: 5 stories, carried by 30 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Kivu, Uganda -- attacks & violence: 23 stories, carried by 48 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Bahia, Brazil -- accidents & disasters: 20 stories, carried by 52 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Khartoum, Sudan -- protests & strikes: 32 stories, carried by 56 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Zacatecoluca, el Salvador -- protests & strikes: 5 stories, carried by 57 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100La Palma, Spain -- accidents & disasters: 10 stories, carried by 62 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Barguna, Bangladesh -- accidents & disasters: 10 stories, carried by 70 outlets; harsh wording in 90 in 100Cameron Pass, US -- accidents & disasters: 6 stories, carried by 68 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Moscow, Russia -- attacks & violence: 46 stories, carried by 275 outlets; harsh wording in 89 in 100Cape Town, South Africa -- protests & strikes: 273 stories, carried by 607 outlets; harsh wording in 34 in 100Johannesburg, South Africa -- protests & strikes: 87 stories, carried by 275 outlets; harsh wording in 61 in 100Santa Barbara County, US -- accidents & disasters: 10 stories, carried by 131 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 harsher than usual. Filled dot: today. Ring: usual.

● Angerabout as usual
● Warmthabout as usual
● Griefabout one and a half times 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.