The logistics of a presidential debate in the United States It is not an easy task, and even less so in the first and decisive face-to-face meeting this Thursday between Democrat Joe Biden and Republican Donald Trump.
This is what the studios are like inside where this historic day will take place in the city of Atlanta, which has already They were shielded by the Police with several surrounding streets closed to traffic.
Two meters between Biden and Trump
The debate will begin at 9:00 p.m. local time (10:00 p.m. in Argentina) in a CNN television studio on the Techwood campus in downtown Atlanta, without the presence of the public and will last 90 minutes with two advertising breaks.
The candidates, the oldest in history, they will debate standing on two podiums separated by 2.4 meters and will have a decoration behind them with the slogan ‘CNN Presidential Debate’.
The Democratic campaign was chosen by drawing lots to select the candidates’ positions and opted for Biden to be on the right side of the television screen and Trump, on the left side.
Candidates will access the studio through opposite entrances and It is unknown if they will greet each other by shaking hands.
Right in front of them, the debate moderators, journalists Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, will be sitting at a table. They will ask the candidates questions, and they will have two minutes to respond.
The unprecedented silence button
Biden and Trump will not have a stopwatch as such: above the cameras they will see lights that They will turn yellow when they have 15 seconds left speaking time, they will flash when five seconds remain and will turn red when their time has run out.
Only the microphone of the candidate who has the turn to speak will be on. and his opponent will have it turned off. Anything he says will be practically inaudible to the television viewers.
It is tried like this prevent shouting and interruptions from happening again that featured the two tense face-to-face matches between Biden and Trump in the 2020 elections.
None of the candidates will be able to speak with their advisors during the two breaks and they are prohibited from taking previous notes, although They will have a notebook and a pen to take notes.
“Spin room” in a basketball stadium
Nearly a thousand journalists from several dozen different countries have been accredited for the debate, a demonstration of the great international interest in this event, which could break audience records.
But the reporters will not be in the CNN studio, but in an adjacent basketball stadium, the Hank McCamish Pavilion, where the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets usually play.
It is not a typical press room. Journalists work from the stands where spectators usually watch the games, but this time what they will see in the stadium’s giant screens It is the face to face between Biden and Trump.
The court where the matches are played has been covered with a red carpet to accommodate the famous ‘spin room’ and the programmes of the major American television networks.
It will be in that space, where the advisors of both campaigns They will walk around to give interviews and use arguments to convince journalists that their candidate was the clear winner of the day.
