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.
“I don’t think anything that is said about us or about the debate changes our role or our mission,” Rick Klein, the network’s political director, said in an interview. “Our job is to meet the moment, and it’s a huge moment and a humbling moment. Nothing that’s said about us or anyone else matters once the light goes on and the cameras are rolling.”
Still, the network, which recently endured a tumultuous leadership change, is aware that Tuesday night is a moment of both opportunity and peril.
Until about 10 weeks ago, some pundits argued that presidential debates ultimately did not matter. For all the buildup and scrutiny of the events, they have often left the fundamental dynamics of campaigns unchanged.
Then, on June 27, President Biden shuffled onto a CNN stage in Atlanta.
Mr. Biden’s shaky performance unfolded live in front of 51 million viewers, putting his mental fitness at the forefront of the national conversation. Three weeks later, he dropped out of the race.
That evening’s moderators, Dana Bash and Jake Tapper, won praise for their even-keeled style, though some Democrats asked why they did not try to fact-check Mr. Trump’s falsehoods in real-time.
Mr. Klein, of ABC, said in the interview that Mr. Muir and Ms. Davis were “there to facilitate a discussion,” adding, “The debate belongs to the candidates.”
Is there a role for fact-checking?
“I don’t think it’s a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ proposition,” Mr. Klein said. “We’re not making a commitment to fact-check everything, or fact-check nothing, in either direction. We’re there to keep a conversation going, and to facilitate a good solid debate, and that entails a lot of things in terms of asking questions, moving the conversation along, making sure that it’s civilized.”
That onus falls on ABC’s moderators, a pair of anchors who are more generalists than political specialists.
Mr. Muir, the anchor of “World News Tonight,” is, ratings-wise, the most popular TV news personality in the country: His nightly newscast was watched by an average of 7.4 million people last month, according to Nielsen, beating his counterparts at NBC and CBS, and dwarfing the cable audiences for MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow (2.6 million) and Fox News’s Jesse Watters (3 million).
Mr. Muir has conducted interviews with both Mr. Trump and Ms. Harris, and he has moderated four primary debates (three Democratic, one Republican) for ABC since 2015. Ms. Davis, who is the Sunday anchor of “World News Tonight,” was a moderator of two Democratic primary debates during the 2020 campaign.
Among other considerations, the anchors may need to prepare for Mr. Trump to attack them and their network live on-air.
In recent days, Mr. Trump has referred to ABC News as “very hostile territory” and repeated a baseless claim that the network was funneling questions to the Harris campaign in advance. Mr. Trump has in the past laid some groundwork ahead of a big debate to blame the host network if he has an off night.
“ABC, I think is the worst of everybody,” Mr. Trump told reporters. “I think they’re the worst. They’re the nastiest. They’re as bad as you can be.”
Mr. Trump has also alluded to the role of Dana Walden, a top executive at ABC’s parent company, Disney, and her 30-year friendship with Ms. Harris. Ms. Walden, who oversees ABC News as part of a sprawling portfolio of the company’s various businesses, has donated money through the years to Ms. Harris and hosted fund-raisers for her. ABC News says that Ms. Walden has no involvement in editorial decisions.
Lastly, Mr. Trump has a pending lawsuit against ABC News and its anchor George Stephanopoulos, in which he argues the network harmed his reputation. But the lawsuit was filed in March, well before the Trump campaign initially agreed to an ABC debate.
Ms. Harris’s camp has its own grievances with ABC.
Her aides demanded that the network change a rule, previously requested by the Biden campaign, that the candidates’ microphones be muted while the other is speaking. Mr. Trump’s aides did not agree, so the muting rule stands, although the Harris campaign says the format has “fundamentally disadvantaged” the vice president.
Tuesday’s debate will be overseen by Mr. Klein; John Santucci, the network’s executive editorial producer; and Marc Burstein, ABC’s longtime producer of major political events. Also involved are ABC News’s new president, Almin Karamehmedovic, who was appointed to the role less than a month ago; and Debra OConnell, Disney’s president of its news group and networks, who used to run TV business operations for Disney Entertainment.
Ms. OConnell said in an interview that she had worked on televised debates for state and local races hosted by ABC’s regional affiliates. As for the partisan brickbats aimed at her network, she replied, “We have an incredible team, and I feel very confident in our moderators.”
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.
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