section_path: News consumption/Influence
section_name: Influence
paragraph_text: Influence
  
  The content and style of news delivery certainly have effects on the general public, with the magnitude and precise nature of these effects being tough to determine experimentally. In Western societies, television viewing has been so ubiquitous that its total effect on psychology and culture leave few alternatives for comparison.
  
  News is the leading source of knowledge about global affairs for people around the world. According to agenda-setting theory, the general public will identify as its priorities those issues which are highlighted on the news. The agenda-setting model has been well-supported by research, which indicate that the public's self-reported concerns respond to changes in news coverage rather than changes in the underlying issue itself. The less an issue obviously affects people's lives, the bigger an influence media agenda-setting can have on their opinion of it. The agenda-setting power becomes even stronger in practice because of the correspondence in news topics promulgated by different media channels.