If ABC assistant pool producer Glennwood Branche and operations manager Chuck Mertz made a mistake, it would have a worldwide impact. As two of the officials in charge of ABC's coverage of the presidential debate, the two were responsible for providing live news coverage to CBS, NBC and CNN.
ABC was the inside pool network for the debate, which meant its cameras were the only ones allowed on the debate floor to broadcast the event live. One technical mistake would have resulted in a disastrous trickle-down effect for television outlets around the world.
Branche and Mertz double-checked everything from whether their camera people had sufficient access to the debate floor to securing the right location for satellite trucks. They worked under the direction of overall pool producer Justin Friedland.
In addition to CBS, NBC and CNN, ABC provided live coverage to their pool subscribers, which included C-SPAN, Fox Television and PBS. The three major broadcast networks and CNN serve as inside pool on a rotating basis for the other debates.
Branche and Mertz were fully aware of the pressure their jobs entailed. But the television veterans are accustomed to stress. Branche has worked for ABC News for 14 years and is former chief of ABC News' now-defunct St. Louis bureau. Mertz has worked for the network 17 years, including more than 15 years in the sports division.
Branche and Mertz were just two of the approximately 1,000 local, national and international media representatives issued credentials to cover the debate, according to Robert E. Petersen, superintendent of the U.S. Senate Press Gallery. The media ranged from the Nashville (Tenn.) Banner to the Times of London.
Of the 1,000 representatives covering the debate, at least 20 were from the foreign press, according to Jonathan Baker of the U.S. Information Agency's Foreign Press Center. Baker assisted international media covering the debate. Among the other countries represented by the press were Spain, France, Australia and the Netherlands.
At least six University faculty members were cast in the national and international spotlight when reporters interviewed them about the debate. Among the press who interviewed faculty members were NBC "Nightly News," Swedish Radio, Newsweek, DPA-German Press Agency, Reuters, and print journalists from Italy and Japan.
In addition to the faculty interviews, the NBC "Nightly News" program was broadcast live from the Athletic Complex on Oct. 10. During the program, anchor Tom Brokaw referred to the University as "the site of the 1904 Olympics." ABC reporters Ann Compton -- who was a debate panelist -- and Morton Dean gave live post-debate reports from the complex during "Good Morning America's" Oct. 12 broadcast.
Some press members interviewed Washington students as well as faculty. One Japanese student, Yuko Koizumi, served as a translator for a reporter from her country's Hokkaido Shimbun Press. But not all of the reporters who interviewed students were on campus. Before the debate, a reporter from France Info, a popular all-news radio station in Paris, called the University's International Office looking for someone who spoke French to comment on the event. Fortunately, Evelyne Morel was in the office. Morel, a native of Normandy, France, is pursuing a doctorate in comparative literature at Washington.
The reporter asked about the students' attitudes toward the debate and how Washington University had prepared for it, said Morel. "She was happy to talk to someone in French. I was so excited. I called my family and told them to listen to the station."