Louder than Words: A Content Analysis of Presidential Candidates' Televised Nonverbal Communication

Abstract

This probability sampled content analysis of 1159 televised shots examined the TV news media's visual representation of the candidates in the 2000 presidential election. The purpose was to see whether it conveyed nonverbal messages that helped or hindered the candidates. Two dimensions of visual communication that convey affective information were examined—the facial expressions, appearance, and nonverbal behavior of the candidates, and the structural features of television edited into news stories by journalists such as camera angle, distance, and movement. Overall, we found fairly balanced coverage of the two candidates in the visuals that are under the control of journalists. There was not a consistent liberal bias or incumbent bias; in fact, there was slightly more evidence of the visuals favoring the Republican rather than the Democrat. There were significantly more stories about the Republicans, significantly more visual shots of Bush than of Gore, and the number of shots of Bush in the second half of the newscasts. The only indication of bias for the Democrats was the significantly greater number of shots of the Democrat running mate. There was no evidence of systematic bias of any kind in the structural features such as camera angle, distance, and motion.

Stephen A. Banning received his PhD in Journalism from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and is currently an assistant professor at Bradley University. Renita Coleman received her PhD in Journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia and currently is an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin.