The first debate of the 2024 presidential elections is being held without an audience. Despite this, it has unleashed enormous expectations for coverage on the ground in the sweltering Atlanta these days, somewhat cooled this Thursday by a storm. According to data provided by CNN, organizer of the debate, around 1,000 journalists from more than 170 countries have been accredited to cover the duel between the president, Joe Biden, and his predecessor, Donald Trump. CNN, in agreement with the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), has set up a multi-sports pavilion for the media.
The Hank McCamish Pavilion is the home of the university’s men’s and women’s basketball teams, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, but it was also the home of the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks from 1977 to 1994. The bleacher area has tables set up as a giant press area, and the hardwood floor, where Dominique Wilkins did his spectacular dunks, will serve as a spin room, the area through which guests, experts and members of the Biden and Trump campaign will parade to give their opinion on the course of the debate. Among the first to stop by before the debate were the governor of Georgia, Republican Brian Kemp; that of California, Democrat Gavin Newsom, and Republican Congressman Byron Donalds.
The area is cordoned off by the secret service. Guests of the hotels closest to the debate area have been warned that vehicles will not be able to access them between 4:00 p.m. and midnight. You have to pass strict security checks to reach the press center, although the debate itself is held on the set of a nearby building. Some of the pavilion’s restaurant franchises will open their doors to serve attendees. The water will be courtesy of CNN.
Prominent members of the Democratic and Republican Parties will appear there. Trump has said that he has already decided who will accompany him on the ballot as a vice presidential candidate and that he will be in Atlanta, so all candidates will sign in. Both will try to highlight the performance of their respective leader.
The rector of Georgia Tech is the Spanish Ángel Cabrera. “The logistics of having a presidential debate at our university are enormous. A number of security services must be coordinated, the presidents’ secret service, the campus police, the state police, the city police… The entire operation is complex, but bringing the world’s attention to Georgia Tech, our university, is worth it. Now it is summer and there are not many students, but for those who are on campus, this is the most important political event in many months and having it on our campus is a source of pride,” he explains to EL PAÍS. It has been a joint effort with CNN, he explains. “We are neighbors of CNN and we have always had a very good relationship with them. It has been several weeks of planning and preparation, but the execution has been the last week. “I am very proud of our team, we have very, very good people, and it is also nice to have neighbors like CNN,” he adds.
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Across the city, and indeed across the country, campaigns have organized parties to follow the debate. The president will approach one of them in Atlanta at the end of the duel with Trump. The Biden campaign, which provided the data, is hosting more than 300 debate viewing parties tonight alone and more than 1,600 additional events in swing states throughout the week. He will also hold activities targeting key segments, with more than 40 events currently scheduled for debate night. “We will host events for young voters, including a virtual state party for college students in Michigan, as well as for Caribbean women, Venezuelan Americans, the LGBT community, local members of the Democratic Party and other groups virtually and in more than 15 states” , indicates his campaign.
The television channels have reserved, for a fee, their spaces at the foot of the track to be able to do interviews and broadcast live from there. Although CNN produces and broadcasts the debate exclusively, it gives up the signal to be broadcast simultaneously by all the major television channels. The news channel is on its turf and has secured the best spaces. It is putting all its cards on the table for what could be the most watched broadcast in its history.
Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, two of the star presenters, will be the moderators, in charge of choosing the questions to be asked of the candidates. Trump, true to his style of not accepting the rules of the game, has already taken it upon himself to question their impartiality: “I will debate with three people, instead of one, instead of half a person,” he said at a rally in Racine (Wisconsin).
Will they shake hands?
CNN, which has been plagued by recent problems and crises, has a lot at stake. Many viewers have moved to streaming platforms such as Netflix, Max and Hulu and are abandoning the once-all-powerful traditional cable television (which is now also practically broadcast over the internet).
Moreover, the prestigious news channel has more prestige than audience lately. According to Nielsen data cited by AP, Fox News has had an average of 2.14 million viewers in prime time this month, MSNBC had 1.22 million, and CNN had 525,000, a 17% drop from June last year. Viewers seem to prefer opinion to news.
The debate is presented as a great opportunity to regain notoriety and audience. It may also happen that viewers, although they follow the CNN signal, prefer to follow the debate on their favorite channels. Among those that will broadcast it are ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox News, MSNBC, PBS and C-SPAN and it would not be unusual for some of them to surpass CNN itself in audience.
The channel now directed by Mark Thompson has filled the stage with its logos, so at least it will serve as an advertising tool. On that set, Biden and Trump will be much closer than in the 2020 debates. One of the unknowns is whether they will shake hands. Four years ago they did not greet each other because of covid. Not doing so today would be a gesture of great hostility, but that is what has dominated the relationship between the two.
Although there will be two commercial breaks within the 90 minutes of debate, neither Biden nor Trump will be able to speak to their teams during them. There will be no opening interventions, but we will go directly to the moderators’ questions, which have not been anticipated. There will be two minutes to answer, followed by one minute of reply and another of counter-reply. A red light will flash when there are five seconds left in each turn and will stay on when the time is up. No graphics or other objects, nor pre-prepared notes, will be permitted. Candidates will receive paper, pen and a bottle of water. Also courtesy of CNN.
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