CNN Demonstrates How They Will Cut Debate Mics

CNN reports:

CNN’s debate will include some shifts in tradition, including two commercial breaks during the roughly 90-minute event, a first since the Commission on Presidential Debates took over the process more than 35 years ago.

There will be no live audience this time, and the candidates’ microphones will be muted while the other is speaking. The podiums will also be eight feet apart, much closer than the last Trump-Biden debate in 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic, when they were positioned 12 feet apart.

It’s also the earliest a general election debate has ever been held, coming weeks before either candidate is formally nominated at their party’s conventions.

Read the full article.

In the video below, CNN hosts role-play as the candidates and demonstrate the audio levels that will be heard by viewers when mics are shut off.

In a longer clip on CNN’s website, you’ll find much more, including an explanation of the warning lights that candidates will see when their time to speak is almost up.

CNN demonstrates how microphones will work at the Biden-Trump debate during interruptions. pic.twitter.com/HUXU11vRRt

— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) June 26, 2024

Media: When @Phil_Mattingly and @VictorBlackwell demonstrate the mic-cutting effect on the @CNN debate set in #Atlanta, you can barely hear any voice from the one whose mic is turned off — you see him talking, but his voice doesn’t make air. In short, it’s very effective,… pic.twitter.com/Mcw4oBp9yF

— Porter Anderson (@Porter_Anderson) June 26, 2024