What TV News Anchors Can Teach Us About Nonverbal Cues and Influence

October 2026

Election season is in full swing. The yard signs are up, mailboxes are stuffed to the brim with candidate flyers, and attack ads are going strong. If you're as unlucky as I am, you're also getting several unsolicited calls a day. I've stopped counting, and I've stopped answering. Yet by the time we head to the polls or mail in our absentee ballots, we like to believe we've made an informed decision.

Long before advertising flooded the airwaves, and before social media fed us a steady stream of opinions, headlines, and commentary, the anchors on the set were the primary source of information about the candidates. Now rewind to 1984. Television news was the main way most Americans followed a campaign, political advertising was far less omnipresent, and social media didn't exist. In that world, what was left to shape opinions? Not just what the anchor said, but how the anchor appeared while saying it.

Back in graduate school, I was curious whether a news anchor’s expressions could shape public perception and, ultimately, sway voters in an election. That question became the focus of my master’s thesis. I built on a well-known study and also conducted my own research to better understand how the nonverbal behavior of television news anchors affects the way audiences see the people and stories they cover. As a communications advisor and executive coach, I now use what I learned to help leaders sharpen their message, presence, and influence.

The Anchor Who Swayed Viewers Without Saying a Word

In a 1986 study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, researchers recorded the faces of three network anchors as they reported on the two major candidates of 1984, Ronald Reagan and Walter Mondale. Malcolm Gladwell later popularized the findings in The Tipping Point, and the details below follow his account. To isolate the faces, researchers muted the clips. Participants then rated how positive or negative each anchor’s expression looked on a 21-point scale, with no words to influence them.

Dan Rather of CBS and Tom Brokaw of NBC scored right at the midpoint, with neutral expressions for both candidates. Peter Jennings of ABC scored differently. His expression was about two points above neutral when he reported on Mondale, and six points above neutral when he reported on Reagan.

A control test ruled out the obvious explanation. Participants also rated the anchors’ expressions during muted reports on objectively happy and sad topics, and Jennings didn’t simply have a sunnier face in general. If anything, the opposite was true. His warmth was specific to one candidate.

Beyond the Mute Button

Of course, real viewers don't watch the news on mute. In my own thesis research, I found that with the sound on, across various television news networks, anchors’ smiles, blinking, posture, and other subtle behaviors while telling news stories also shaped how audiences perceived the people and stories they were covering.

Words carry the content of a message, delivery carries the feeling, and audiences absorb both at once. I see this consistently in my work. A leader can have a flawless script and still lose the room because their delivery tells a different story.

The Influence Viewers Never Noticed

The researchers also ran a follow-up telephone survey after the election. Viewers who regularly watched Jennings’s broadcast were significantly more likely to vote for the candidate he had smiled upon. When asked why, those viewers had no awareness of his expressions. They believed their choice came down to the issues. Nothing suggests Jennings was aware of the effect, either. That's the point: these cues are often unconscious, in the people sending them and the people receiving them.

There’s more. The network’s story selection actually leaned the other way, yet Jennings’s facial expressions appeared to outweigh it. Subtle nonverbal cues seemed to do more work than the network’s explicit choice of stories.

This isn’t a story about one anchor, one network, one party. It’s a story about how powerful nonverbal communication is, and how it can shape our views without our noticing.

What I Tell My Clients: 5 Ways to Make Nonverbal Communication Work for You

If an anchor's subtle expressions can be linked to how people vote, consider what your demeanor communicates in a team meeting, a town hall, or a board presentation. Your audience may never consciously register your nonverbal signals, but they will feel them. These are the five habits I ask leaders to examine first:

1. Eye contact. Looking at people signals confidence and honesty. Looking down, staring at notes can read as uncertainty or disinterest. Connect with individuals across the room, not just the friendly face in the front row. That includes your slides: if you're reading from the screen, you're talking to it instead of to them.

2. Body language. Standing rooted behind a podium creates distance. Find a way to avoid large objects that stand between you and the audience you are trying to connect with. Move through the space when you can, especially when you are starting to make a new point. Use open gestures that invite people in.

3. Facial expressions. Your face is telling a story whether you intend it to or not. A genuine smile can lift a room, while a furrowed brow can signal worry or disapproval. I often recommend that clients record themselves delivering a difficult message and watch it on mute. It's uncomfortable, and illuminating.

4. Vocal tone. Pitch, pace, and emphasis tell people how to feel about what you’re saying. A flat delivery can make an exciting announcement land as bad news, and a tense one can undercut reassuring words.

5. Pause on purpose. Silence is one of the most underused tools in a leader's kit. A beat of silence after a key point signals confidence and gives people time to absorb it. Pause before and after your most important points.

The Takeaway

Influence isn't built on words alone. The leaders who connect best pay attention to both what they say and how they say it. When your words, expressions, and tone align, you come across as authentic, and authenticity is what moves people.

So before your next big meeting, presentation, or difficult conversation, try the anchor’s test. Record yourself delivering your key message and watch it on mute. Then ask whether your face and your voice are telling the same story as your words. When they match, people don't just hear your message. They believe it. Sources Mullen, B., Futrell, D., Stairs, D., Tice, D. M., Baumeister, R. F., Dawson, K. E., Riordan, C. A., Radloff, C. E., Goethals, G. R., Kennedy, J. G., & Rosenfeld, P. (1986). Newscasters’ facial expressions and voting behavior of viewers: Can a smile elect a president? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51(2), 291–295. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.51.2.291

Gladwell, M. (2000). The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference. Little, Brown.