← 20 Aug Thursday 21 August 2025 · to 23:59 UTC 22 Aug →
What the world's news said happened to people.
Counts of coverage, not of suffering
15,930 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 the earthquake in Kashmir, violence in Kabul and rights and justice in Kampala. Afghanistan's coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's. Over the whole world, the tone was much softer than usual.

Part of lifeHealth 27 in 100 of the stories about harm · about as usual Country that rose mostAfghanistan 64 in 100 of its 121 stories, usually 47
RegionEvery region about as usual
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

Kashmir

67 of its 120 stories (56%) were about people being harmed, usually 47%. Jammu accounted for 39 of Kashmir's 67 stories about harm, carried by 26 outlets. Reports of arrests ran at about 5 times the usual rate (27 stories). Earthquake was named in 11 of its stories about harm, more than ten times usual.

Conflict & violence

Afghanistan

77 of its 121 stories (64%) were about people being harmed, usually 47%. Kabul accounted for 30 of Afghanistan's 77 stories about harm, carried by 96 outlets. Its coverage was about one and a half times as fearful as the world's. Warmth in its coverage rose to about one and a half times its own usual.

6 more places the news pointed at
Conflict & violence

Palestine

Gaza accounted for 163 of Palestine's 200 stories about harm, carried by 234 outlets. Reports of evacuations ran at about twice the usual rate (9 stories). Its coverage was about twice as grief-stricken as the world's.

Conflict & violence

Israel

Jerusalem accounted for 195 of Israel's 587 stories about harm, carried by 448 outlets. Reports of evacuations ran at about twice the usual rate (21 stories). Its coverage was about three times as grief-stricken as the world's.

Conflict & violence

Somalia

26 of its 35 stories (74%) were about people being harmed, usually 49%. Reports of arrests ran at about 4 times the usual rate (6 stories).

Rights & justice

Congo

14 of its 18 stories (78%) were about people being harmed, usually 53%. Its coverage was about one and a half times as angry as the world's.

Disasters & accidents

Indonesia

55 of its 189 stories (29%) were about people being harmed, usually 21%. Reports of arrests ran at about three times the usual rate (17 stories).

Disasters & accidents

Guinea

5 of its 9 stories (56%) were about people being harmed, usually 21%. Reports of people killed ran at about twice the usual rate (5 stories).

Also named far more than usual: power cuts in Pakistan (19 of its stories, about 5 times its usual); heavy rain in Australia (16 of its stories, about three times its usual); power cuts in Canada (14 of its stories, about 5 times its usual); storm surge in US (111 of its stories, about 4 times its usual).

18 in 100 stories were about harm

usually 19; 18 the day before
21 in 10018 in 10023 Jul30 Jul6 Aug13 Aug21 Aug23 Jul: 19 in 10024 Jul: 18 in 10025 Jul: 18 in 10026 Jul: 19 in 10027 Jul: 19 in 10028 Jul: 19 in 10029 Jul: 19 in 10030 Jul: 20 in 10031 Jul: 19 in 1001 Aug: 19 in 1002 Aug: 19 in 1003 Aug: 21 in 1004 Aug: 19 in 1005 Aug: 19 in 1006 Aug: 19 in 1007 Aug: 18 in 1008 Aug: 19 in 1009 Aug: 20 in 10010 Aug: 20 in 10011 Aug: 19 in 10012 Aug: 19 in 10013 Aug: 19 in 10014 Aug: 19 in 10015 Aug: 18 in 10016 Aug: 19 in 10017 Aug: 20 in 10018 Aug: 19 in 10019 Aug: 18 in 10020 Aug: 18 in 10021 Aug: 18 in 100 · this day

Stories about people being harmed, in every 100 stories, the 30 days to 21 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 15,930 stories about harm among 89,373 counted on 21 Aug.

Read the day's briefing

The share of stories about people being harmed was the lowest since 16 May 2025. 18 in every 100 of the day's 89,373 news stories were about people being harmed, below the usual 19. In Kashmir's news, mentions of the earthquake ran more than ten times their usual. the news turned to Kashmir for the second day running. Kashmir's news was 56% about people being harmed, against a usual 47%.

Written by code from the day's numbers.

Where it happened

feelings in full →
Feelings Events Harm Warmth
Katsina, Nigeria -- attacks & violence: 14 stories, carried by 12 outlets; harsh wording in 93 in 100Darfur, Sudan -- attacks & violence: 11 stories, carried by 38 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Palghar, India -- deaths, cause not given: 11 stories, carried by 11 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Buner, Pakistan -- accidents & disasters: 20 stories, carried by 17 outlets; harsh wording in 90 in 100Khorasan, Afghanistan -- attacks & violence: 8 stories, carried by 15 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Mumbai, India -- accidents & disasters: 75 stories, carried by 41 outlets; harsh wording in 75 in 100Long Lake, Canada -- accidents & disasters: 5 stories, carried by 26 outlets; harsh wording in 80 in 100White Beach, Japan -- accidents & disasters: 15 stories, carried by 26 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Port Alberni, Canada -- accidents & disasters: 13 stories, carried by 51 outlets; harsh wording in 85 in 100Beirut, Lebanon -- attacks & violence: 27 stories, carried by 42 outlets; harsh wording in 96 in 100Essex, UK -- people displaced: 9 stories, carried by 52 outlets; harsh wording in 78 in 100Glasgow, UK -- attacks & violence: 35 stories, carried by 94 outlets; harsh wording in 80 in 100Tehran, Iran -- attacks & violence: 29 stories, carried by 56 outlets; harsh wording in 97 in 100Kabul, Afghanistan -- attacks & violence: 30 stories, carried by 96 outlets; harsh wording in 57 in 100Kivu, Rwanda -- attacks & violence: 5 stories, carried by 67 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Karachi, Pakistan -- accidents & disasters: 109 stories, carried by 69 outlets; harsh wording in 96 in 100Sydney, Australia -- accidents & disasters: 9 stories, carried by 74 outlets; harsh wording in 89 in 100Lviv, Ukraine -- attacks & violence: 19 stories, carried by 95 outlets; harsh wording in 100 in 100Gaza, Palestine -- attacks & violence: 163 stories, carried by 234 outlets; harsh wording in 98 in 100North Carolina, US -- accidents & disasters: 61 stories, carried by 145 outlets; harsh wording in 97 in 100Kyiv, Ukraine -- attacks & violence: 68 stories, carried by 201 outlets; harsh wording in 96 in 100Moscow, Russia -- attacks & violence: 125 stories, carried by 276 outlets; harsh wording in 90 in 100Jerusalem, Israel -- attacks & violence: 195 stories, carried by 448 outlets; harsh wording in 96 in 100Ocracoke, US -- accidents & disasters: 47 stories, carried by 266 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 much softer than usual. Filled dot: today. Ring: usual.

● Angerabout as usual
● Warmthabout as usual
● Griefa little less 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.