The Democratic convention in the age of a pandemic: Hundreds of live feeds and four stages
Critics have derided the political conventions as a glorified TV show for several election cycles. This year, that’s what it really truly is: a television production with live shots and short clips from all across the country.
From CNN’s Jessica Dean: “The Democrats’ virtual convention will feature hundreds of live feeds from across the country and four stage set-ups located in New York City, Los Angeles, Milwaukee and Wilmington, Delaware, according to a source who has seen recent convention plans.”
“The entirely virtual convention will feature emcees to lead the evening’s two hour program, with those people broadcasting primarily out of the LA studio, according to the source,” Dean wrote. “Additionally there will be live speakers from across the country every night broadcasting from historic and symbolic locations which will thematically reinforce their remarks.”
Behind the scenes with Ricky Kirshner
Some elements are scripted, though, of course — and some speeches are being recorded ahead of time. The live footage “will be mixed in real time with a roughly equal share of prerecorded performances, mini-documentaries and speeches,” Scherer wrote.
No doubt loyal Democrats will watch the official DNC live stream on the web, and Republicans will do the same a week from now. But what moments will break through for a broader audience? We shall see.
Why the conventions matter
— “With the issues the country is facing right now with the coronavirus and the economic decline and the racial unrest, the conventions will provide voters with plans for how each party plans to tackle these problems and what the country is going to look like under a Democratic president or a Republican president,” ABC’s senior executive producer for special events Marc Burstein said.
— CBS News political director Caitlin Conant said the conventions “will let the candidates basically reintroduce themselves to America and bring the focus back to politics.”
Notes and quotes
— Trump is phoning into “Fox & Friends” on Monday morning. Notably, this comes at the same time his campaign tries to counter-program the DNC with a massive digital ad buy.
— And it comes on the heels of Trump’s latest tweet bashing Fox’s news operation. He said the network is “not watchable during weekend afternoons” and encouraged people to watch One America News instead.
— While Trump is on Fox, Biden surrogates are blanketing other morning shows: Elizabeth Warren is on “Today,” Pete Buttigieg and Muriel Bowser are on “Morning Joe,” Cory Booker and Amy Klobuchar are on “New Day,” and Booker is also on “CBS This Morning.”
Trump lies to reporters while Biden avoids reporters
“There is a frustration, I will say, as somebody who spends a lot of time covering the Biden campaign, that he has not been particularly accessible,” Khalid said. “I mean, this past week, he rolled out his vice president. I think many journalists expected there would be some format where we would be able to ask questions,” but there was not.
Harris noted that this is strategic on Biden’s part: “They know what they’re doing, why they’re doing it and we can holler about it. And voters can decide how much they care.”
ABC lands first joint interview with Biden and Harris
ABC has booked the “first joint network interviews” with Biden and Harris. The network says David Muir will have the sit-down interview and Robin Roberts “will have a conversation with Biden and Harris on the history-making Democratic presidential ticket.” The interviews will air in a prime time special on Sunday at 8 p.m. Eastern.
