A quantitative study found out what influence the media have on our social image. The main focus was on the perception of climate change. Two groups were interviewed in the study: one group that had to watch a news report on the topic of regional climate change before answering questions that were intended to reflect their personal political mood, and a group that had not been shown this news report and had to answer the questions without it. Both sentiments were then compared with each other.

The result was that there was a significant difference between the two groups. People who had seen the video were more likely to classify climate change as a relevant social issue. People who had not seen the video considered international wars (which were disproportionately present in the media at the time of the survey due to the incipient invasion of Ukraine by Russia) to be the greatest social threat.

The conclusion of this study is that the media have a central influence on the mood of society and that their influence is immense.