Visual Communication Quarterly 2 Volume 14 Fall 2007 By Andrea Miller, Renita Coleman, and Donald Granberg This study of nonverbal bias in political campaign coverage is the first longitudinal study to produce the same results in different elections: Ordinary TV viewers can and do perceive bias in the facial expressions of television news anchors, specifically NBC’s Tom Brokaw, CBS’s Dan Rather, and ABC’s Peter Jennings. Two of the three anchors exhibited significantly more positive facial expressions when they mentioned one presidential candidate than the other in the 1996 election, whereas all three exhibited bias for one candidate in both 2000 and 2004. Viewers who continue to perceive media bias when content analyses find none may be picking up on the more subtle, nonverbal elements of media coverage that are captured only in visual studies. BROKAW RATHER JENNINGS HVCQ_A_272958.qxp 11/4/07 5:55 PM Page 2