In This Debate, CNN Is the Decider

The prime-time matchup on Thursday between President Biden and former President Donald J. Trump represents an evening full of promise and peril.

Especially for CNN.

For the first time in decades, a single television network will have sole discretion over the look, feel and cadence of a general-election presidential debate. Unlike in past years, when an independent, nonprofit commission oversaw the contests, CNN has picked the moderators, designed the set and will choose the camera angles that viewers see.

Lest any voters forget who’s in charge, the red CNN logo will be ubiquitous: Rival channels seeking to simulcast the event had to agree to leave the network’s on-air watermark untouched.

The debate, at 9 p.m. Eastern, could be the single most-watched moment of the presidential campaign, with consequences that ripple all the way to November. And much of the credit — or the blame — for what transpires on tens of millions of screens on Thursday will land at CNN’s feet.

Leaders at the channel, which has endured a run of poor ratings and viewer apathy, say they don’t mind the pressure.

“The fact that we got it was something of a moment for us,” Mark Thompson, who became CNN’s chairman in October, said in an interview between prep meetings in Washington. “Much of the reaction of the public, the rest of the media and other politicians is going to depend on President Trump and President Biden, who are the stars of the show.”