We measure how the world's news covered people being harmed — and the help and hope within it.
138 of its 197 stories (70%) were about people being harmed, usually 46%. Herat accounted for 64 of Afghanistan's 138 stories about harm, carried by 130 outlets. Reports of people injured ran at about 5 times the usual rate (35 stories). Road crashes were named in 14 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual. Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's.
27 of its 43 stories (63%) were about people being harmed, usually 38%. Reports of people killed ran at about twice the usual rate (19 stories). Its coverage was about twice as angry as the world's.
25 of its 60 stories (42%) were about people being harmed, usually 24%. Reports of people affected ran at about twice the usual rate (5 stories).
Jammu accounted for 56 of Kashmir's 79 stories about harm, carried by 31 outlets. Reports of arrests ran at about 7 times the usual rate (37 stories).
327 of its 669 stories (49%) were about people being harmed, usually 40%. Karachi accounted for 128 of Pakistan's 327 stories about harm, carried by 78 outlets. Reports of evacuations ran at about three times the usual rate (17 stories). Drownings were named in 20 of its stories about harm, about 5 times usual, with power cuts and building collapse.
Jerusalem accounted for 167 of Israel's 562 stories about harm, carried by 317 outlets. Reports of refugees ran at about three times the usual rate (33 stories). Its coverage was about three times as grief-stricken as the world's.
32 of its 44 stories (73%) were about people being harmed, usually 48%. Reports of arrests ran at about 8 times the usual rate (9 stories).
20 of its 29 stories (69%) were about people being harmed, usually 52%. Its coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's.
26 of its 60 stories (43%) were about people being harmed, usually 32%. Reports of people affected ran at about twice the usual rate (5 stories).
Gaza accounted for 146 of Palestine's 169 stories about harm, carried by 301 outlets. Its coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's.
Also named far more than usual: covid in Netherlands (11 of its stories, about 7 times its usual); illness in Bangladesh (15 of its stories, about 4 times its usual); drownings in Pakistan (20 of its stories, about 5 times its usual); storm surge in US (192 of its stories, about 9 times its usual); hurricane in Canada (11 of its stories, about three times its usual).
Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 20 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 16,378 stories about harm among 90,617 counted on 20 Aug.
No day had a lower share of stories about people being harmed since 6 June 2025. Stories about people being harmed made up 18 in every 100 of the day's 90,617 stories, as usual. Mentions of Covid ran about 7 times their usual in the Netherlands' news. In Afghanistan, 70% of the news was about people being harmed, where 46% is usual. On 20 August 2024, a year earlier, the share was 19 in every 100, against 18 today.
Written by code from the day's numbers.
Countries with at least 50 stories that day.
Stories, not people.
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.
Of the stories about people being harmed, what part of life each was about. The mark is usual.
Stories that report it, not people: we count what reporters wrote, not what happened.
The words in the day's stories were softer than usual. Filled dot: today. Ring: usual.
From the words reporters used across the whole day, never one story. Fear is the weakest of the four measures. How?
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