A look at the Media, Debates and ABC…..
Tens of millions of Americans will tune in live on Tuesday to see how Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald J. Trump handle their first head-to-head encounter on the debate stage.
That mass audience will also scrutinize the performance of ABC News.
As the sponsor and host of a general-election debate, ABC is in charge of nearly every aspect of the presentation, from the camera angles that viewers see at home to the ability of the moderators, David Muir and Linsey Davis, to keep the proceedings on track.
TV networks prefer to recede into the background on a debate night. But ABC has already found itself at the center of crisscrossing accusations from both campaigns. Ms. Harris’s aides have complained that some ground rules disadvantage the vice president. Mr. Trump, meanwhile, has assailed the network in increasingly belligerent ways, deeming ABC “the worst” and “the nastiest.”
Leaders at ABC News, who were gathering at the debate site in Philadelphia on Saturday, say they have shrugged off the noise, noting that both campaigns ultimately agreed to participate….
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Over the weekend, ABC producers were putting the finishing touches on the set at National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, while Mr. Muir and Ms. Davis traveled to the city for prep sessions. Mr. Klein, the ABC political director, said that amid all the chatter, he had found a small way to mark the significance of the occasion.
For a virtual coin flip with the campaigns — held to determine lectern placement and the order of closing statements — Mr. Klein dug out a commemorative coin, marking the 200th anniversary of the Constitution, that he had purchased as a 10-year-old during a visit to Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Tuesday’s debate will be held three blocks away.
image…David Muir and Linsey Davis, the moderators for Tuesday’s debate, were among the moderators of a Democratic primary debate hosted by ABC News in Houston in September 2019.