← 19 Feb Sunday 20 February 2022 · to 23:59 UTC 21 Feb →
What the world's news said happened to people.
Counts of coverage, not of suffering
9,583 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 Ottawa (Canada), violence in Kyiv and a disaster in Petropolis drew the news. Ukraine's coverage was about twice as angry as the world's. Across the world, the tone of the words was much harsher than usual.

Reports of evacuations ran at about 4 times the usual rate, most often about Ukraine and Greece →
Part of lifeHealth 45 in 100 of the stories about harm · much less than usual Country that rose mostGreece 63 in 100 of its 169 stories, usually 30
RegionEurope 32 in 100 of its stories, usually 23
Tone of the words Much harsher than usual across the world's stories about harm

What the world's news was about today

how these are picked →
Protests & strikes

Canada

443 of its 1,026 stories (43%) were about people being harmed, usually 37%. Ottawa accounted for 252 of Canada's 443 stories about harm, carried by 532 outlets. 236 of Ottawa's 252 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of arrests ran at about 4 times the usual rate (187 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's.

Conflict & violence

Ukraine

373 of its 796 stories (47%) were about people being harmed, usually 25%. Kyiv accounted for 204 of Ukraine's 373 stories about harm, carried by 438 outlets. Reports of evacuations ran at about 6 times the usual rate (80 stories). Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.

Disasters & accidents

Brazil

43 of its 101 stories (43%) were about people being harmed, usually 28%. Petropolis accounted for 29 of Brazil's 43 stories about harm, carried by 62 outlets. Reports of people affected ran at about three times the usual rate (31 stories). Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's.

6 more places the news pointed at
Disasters & accidents

Greece

106 of its 169 stories (63%) were about people being harmed, usually 30%. Igoumenitsa accounted for 71 of Greece's 106 stories about harm, carried by 252 outlets. Reports of evacuations ran at about 8 times the usual rate (30 stories).

Conflict & violence

Russia

277 of its 954 stories (29%) were about people being harmed, usually 18%. Reports of evacuations ran at about 4 times the usual rate (17 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's.

Health

UK

1,120 of its 3,123 stories (36%) were about people being harmed, usually 26%. Reports of people falling ill ran at about 9 times the usual rate (7 stories). Heavy rain was named in 80 of its stories about harm, about 5 times usual, with power cuts and flu.

Rights & justice

France

106 of its 334 stories (32%) were about people being harmed, usually 22%. Reports of arrests ran at about three times the usual rate (14 stories). Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's.

Conflict & violence

Mali

Reports of people affected ran at about twice the usual rate (5 stories). Grief in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.

Health

Nigeria

Reports of people injured ran at about 4 times the usual rate (22 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as grief-stricken as the world's.

Also named far more than usual: storms in Ireland (26 of its stories, about 5 times its usual); heavy rain in UK (80 of its stories, about 5 times its usual); bird flu in US (33 of its stories, about 8 times its usual).

25 in 100 stories were about harm

usually 24; 25 the day before
27 in 10022 in 10022 Jan29 Jan5 Feb12 Feb20 Feb22 Jan: 27 in 10023 Jan: 26 in 10024 Jan: 25 in 10025 Jan: 25 in 10026 Jan: 25 in 10027 Jan: 24 in 10028 Jan: 25 in 10029 Jan: 26 in 10030 Jan: 27 in 10031 Jan: 25 in 1001 Feb: 24 in 1002 Feb: 24 in 1003 Feb: 25 in 1004 Feb: 24 in 1005 Feb: 25 in 1006 Feb: 24 in 1007 Feb: 23 in 1008 Feb: 23 in 1009 Feb: 22 in 10010 Feb: 23 in 10011 Feb: 23 in 10012 Feb: 23 in 10013 Feb: 22 in 10014 Feb: 22 in 10015 Feb: 23 in 10016 Feb: 23 in 10017 Feb: 24 in 10018 Feb: 24 in 10019 Feb: 25 in 10020 Feb: 25 in 100 · this day

Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 20 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 9,583 stories about harm among 38,358 counted on 20 Feb.

Read the day's briefing

The news turned to Canada for the fourth day running. 25 in every 100 of the day's 38,358 news stories were about people being harmed, as usual. Reports of evacuations ran at about 4 times the usual rate, most often about Ukraine and Greece. Ireland's news mentioned storms about 5 times as often as usual. A year earlier, on 20 February 2021, 28 in every 100 stories were about people being harmed, against 25 today. This week the news turned most often to Canada, on 5 of 7 days.

Written by code from the day's numbers.

Where it happened

feelings in full →
Feelings Events Harm Warmth
Shabwa, Yemen -- attacks & violence: 6 stories, carried by 11 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Kwara, Nigeria -- accidents & disasters: 11 stories, carried by 14 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Kathmandu, Nepal -- protests & strikes: 11 stories, carried by 13 outlets; harsh wording in 91 in 100Sanaa, Yemen -- attacks & violence: 7 stories, carried by 9 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Wellington, New Zealand -- protests & strikes: 36 stories, carried by 21 outlets; harsh wording in 83 in 100Mogadishu, Somalia -- attacks & violence: 7 stories, carried by 13 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Belgooly, Ireland -- accidents & disasters: 6 stories, carried by 14 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Beledweyne, Somalia -- attacks & violence: 10 stories, carried by 12 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Maiduguri, Nigeria -- people displaced: 8 stories, carried by 12 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Minneapolis, US -- protests & strikes: 17 stories, carried by 28 outlets; harsh wording in 88 in 100Ahmedabad, India -- attacks & violence: 31 stories, carried by 20 outlets; harsh wording in 90 in 100Kabul, Afghanistan -- attacks & violence: 29 stories, carried by 35 outlets; harsh wording in 90 in 100Donegal, Ireland -- accidents & disasters: 22 stories, carried by 29 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100River Frome, UK -- accidents & disasters: 5 stories, carried by 62 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Tehran, Iran -- attacks & violence: 34 stories, carried by 60 outlets; harsh wording in 97 in 100Khartoum, Sudan -- protests & strikes: 13 stories, carried by 29 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Miami, US -- accidents & disasters: 45 stories, carried by 73 outlets; harsh wording in 93 in 100Petropolis, Brazil -- accidents & disasters: 29 stories, carried by 62 outlets; harsh wording in 97 in 100Northern Ireland, UK -- accidents & disasters: 120 stories, carried by 335 outlets; harsh wording in 90 in 100Donbas, Ukraine -- attacks & violence: 59 stories, carried by 291 outlets; harsh wording in 97 in 100Moscow, Russia -- attacks & violence: 172 stories, carried by 327 outlets; harsh wording in 95 in 100Igoumenitsa, Greece -- accidents & disasters: 71 stories, carried by 252 outlets; harsh wording in 79 in 100Kyiv, Ukraine -- attacks & violence: 204 stories, carried by 438 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Ottawa, Canada -- protests & strikes: 252 stories, carried by 532 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 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.