← 17 Oct Wednesday 18 October 2023 · to 23:59 UTC 19 Oct →
What the world's news said happened to people.
Counts of coverage, not of suffering
23,682 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 protests in Beirut (Lebanon), violence in Kasese and a disaster in Hanoi. Uganda's coverage was about twice as angry as the world's. Language across the world's news ran harsher than usual.

Help and hope: reports of people freed or reunited ran at about twice the usual rate →
Part of lifeConflict & violence 29 in 100 of the stories about harm · much more than usual Country that rose mostUganda 56 in 100 of its 186 stories, usually 25
RegionMiddle East & North Africa 63 in 100 of its stories, usually 50
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

Lebanon

99 of its 151 stories (66%) were about people being harmed, usually 36%. Beirut accounted for 80 of Lebanon's 99 stories about harm, carried by 105 outlets. 49 of Beirut's 80 stories were about protests or strikes. Reports of abductions ran at about twice the usual rate (5 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's. Fear in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.

Conflict & violence

Uganda

104 of its 186 stories (56%) were about people being harmed, usually 25%. Kasese accounted for 64 of Uganda's 104 stories about harm, carried by 194 outlets. Reports of abductions ran at about 6 times the usual rate (9 stories). Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.

Disasters & accidents

Vietnam

365 of its 1,039 stories (35%) were about people being harmed, usually 23%. Hanoi accounted for 226 of Vietnam's 365 stories about harm, carried by 8 outlets. Reports of evacuations ran at more than ten times the usual rate (64 stories). Tsunami was named in 12 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual.

Rights & justice

Aruba

12 of its 48 stories (25%) were about people being harmed, usually 10%. Reports of people killed ran at about 4 times the usual rate (11 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

Palestine

839 of its 1,176 stories (71%) were about people being harmed, usually 60%. Gaza accounted for 728 of Palestine's 839 stories about harm, carried by 844 outlets. Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's.

Rights & justice

Peru

42 of its 141 stories (30%) were about people being harmed, usually 21%. Reports of arrests ran at about 4 times the usual rate (12 stories). Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's.

Displacement

France

232 of its 1,011 stories (23%) were about people being harmed, usually 16%. Reports of evacuations ran at more than ten times the usual rate (50 stories). Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's.

Conflict & violence

Israel

4,929 of its 6,615 stories (75%) were about people being harmed, usually 69%. Train derailment was named in 31 of its stories about harm, about 5 times usual. Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's.

Conflict & violence

Iraq

46 of its 84 stories (55%) were about people being harmed, usually 44%. Its coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's.

Disasters & accidents

Ghana

Reports of people displaced ran at about 4 times the usual rate (6 stories). Flooding was named in 30 of its stories about harm, about three times usual.

Also named far more than usual: flooding in Ireland (62 of its stories, about 4 times its usual); flooding in Ghana (30 of its stories, about three times its usual); tropical storm in Mexico (11 of its stories, about three times its usual); outbreaks in Japan (11 of its stories, about 7 times its usual); storms in UK (97 of its stories, about 4 times its usual).

21 in 100 stories were about harm

usually 19; 19 the day before
23 in 10017 in 10019 Sep26 Sep3 Oct10 Oct18 Oct19 Sep: 18 in 10020 Sep: 18 in 10021 Sep: 18 in 10022 Sep: 17 in 10023 Sep: 18 in 10024 Sep: 18 in 10025 Sep: 18 in 10026 Sep: 17 in 10027 Sep: 17 in 10028 Sep: 17 in 10029 Sep: 18 in 10030 Sep: 18 in 1001 Oct: 18 in 1002 Oct: 18 in 1003 Oct: 18 in 1004 Oct: 18 in 1005 Oct: 18 in 1006 Oct: 18 in 1007 Oct: 22 in 1008 Oct: 23 in 1009 Oct: 22 in 10010 Oct: 21 in 10011 Oct: 21 in 10012 Oct: 20 in 10013 Oct: 20 in 10014 Oct: 21 in 10015 Oct: 22 in 10016 Oct: 20 in 10017 Oct: 19 in 10018 Oct: 21 in 100 · this day

Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 18 Oct. 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 23,682 stories about harm among 115,176 counted on 18 Oct.

Read the day's briefing

On the side of help, reports of people freed or reunited ran at about twice the usual rate. Stories about people being harmed made up 21 in every 100 of the day's 115,176 stories, above the usual 19. Mentions of flooding ran about 4 times their usual in Ireland's news. In Lebanon, 66% of the news was about people being harmed, where 36% is usual. On 18 October 2022, a year earlier, the share was 20 in every 100, against 21 today.

Written by code from the day's numbers.

Where it happened

feelings in full →
Feelings Events Harm Warmth
Kampala, Uganda -- attacks & violence: 18 stories, carried by 30 outlets; harsh wording in 89 in 100Amman, Jordan -- attacks & violence: 20 stories, carried by 30 outlets; harsh wording in 90 in 100Cairo, Egypt -- attacks & violence: 42 stories, carried by 62 outlets; harsh wording in 86 in 100New Mexico, US -- protests & strikes: 9 stories, carried by 40 outlets; harsh wording in 89 in 100Kyiv, Ukraine -- attacks & violence: 47 stories, carried by 70 outlets; harsh wording in 64 in 100Vancouver Island, Canada -- accidents & disasters: 10 stories, carried by 42 outlets; harsh wording in 90 in 100Sacramento, US -- accidents & disasters: 57 stories, carried by 110 outlets; harsh wording in 88 in 100Tehran, Iran -- attacks & violence: 54 stories, carried by 66 outlets; harsh wording in 94 in 100Herat, Afghanistan -- accidents & disasters: 28 stories, carried by 52 outlets; harsh wording in 96 in 100Beijing, China -- attacks & violence: 159 stories, carried by 197 outlets; harsh wording in 69 in 100Connacht, Ireland -- accidents & disasters: 7 stories, carried by 139 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Harir, Iraq -- attacks & violence: 16 stories, carried by 65 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Beirut, Lebanon -- protests & strikes: 80 stories, carried by 105 outlets; harsh wording in 96 in 100Moscow, Russia -- attacks & violence: 65 stories, carried by 79 outlets; harsh wording in 98 in 100Kabul, Afghanistan -- attacks & violence: 37 stories, carried by 104 outlets; harsh wording in 97 in 100Midleton, Ireland -- accidents & disasters: 29 stories, carried by 90 outlets; harsh wording in 93 in 100Baghdad, Iraq -- attacks & violence: 15 stories, carried by 94 outlets; harsh wording in 93 in 100Paris, France -- people displaced: 144 stories, carried by 214 outlets; harsh wording in 88 in 100Northern Ireland, UK -- accidents & disasters: 82 stories, carried by 153 outlets; harsh wording in 87 in 100Berlin, Germany -- attacks & violence: 75 stories, carried by 190 outlets; harsh wording in 93 in 100Kasese, Uganda -- attacks & violence: 64 stories, carried by 194 outlets; harsh wording in 98 in 100Gaza, Palestine -- attacks & violence: 728 stories, carried by 844 outlets; harsh wording in 97 in 100Jerusalem, Israel -- attacks & violence: 462 stories, carried by 843 outlets; harsh wording in 96 in 100Tel Aviv, Israel -- attacks & violence: 991 stories, carried by 1,305 outlets; harsh wording in 96 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.

● Angera little more than usual
● Warmthabout as usual
● Griefa little more than 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.