Transportation Safety Board investigating fire aboard boat abandoned by ‘Lucky 7’

NEW YORK (AP) — Hours after ABC News released the rules for next Tuesday’s presidential debate, resolving a final dispute in Donald Trump’s favor, the former president was on the attack — against ABC News.

“I think a lot of people will be watching to see how nasty they are, how unfair they are,” he said Wednesday on a Fox News town hall.

It was an unsubtle reminder that Trump and Kamala Harris aren’t the only ones with a lot at stake next week. The same is true for ABC News and moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis, in what is the only scheduled debate between the presidential contenders this fall.

Multiple outlets will televise and stream it. But unlike in past years, when presidential debates were organized by a bipartisan commission, this is solely an ABC News production. It won’t include a live audience.

“This is a huge opportunity for ABC News,” said Ben Sherwood, former ABC News president and now publisher & CEO of the Daily Beast. “It’s like getting to host, moderate and produce the Super Bowl of politics. It gives the network luster at a time broadcast television is in decline.”

That is, of course, if things go well.

ABC sees it as a ‘huge responsibility’

The ABC debate was set last spring, when President Joe Biden was the likely Democratic nominee. When he dropped out, it was unclear if the debate would go on. Harris and Trump eventually gave the go-ahead, although the Republican’s repeated criticism of ABC last month raised questions about it again.

It all had little effect on ABC’s planning, said Rick Klein, the network’s Washington bureau chief. “It truly wasn’t a lot of turmoil on our end of things,” he said.

Biden and Trump debated on June 27 — what seems a lifetime ago. That event was put on by CNN, although it is remembered more for Biden’s shaky performance that eventually led him to end his campaign than for anything done by the network or its moderators, Dana Bash and Jake Tapper.

“At the end of the day, this is about helping to create a forum for the candidates to communicate with the public,” Klein said. “It’s a huge responsibility. It’s a humbling responsibility.”

An estimated 51.3 million people watched Biden and Trump in June. But that was before many people were truly tuned into the election, and the potential rematch of the 2020 campaign was drawing little enthusiasm. Tuesday’s debate will almost certainly reach more people, whether or not it approaches the record debate audience of 84 million for the first face-off between Hillary Clinton and Trump in 2016.

Muir’s “World News Tonight” has led the evening news ratings for eight years, making him effectively America’s most popular newscaster. Many nights “World News Tonight” has a bigger audience than anything on prime-time television.

One secret to his success has been ABC’s efforts to craft an apolitical image for him. Tuesday’s audience will be his biggest ever — including people largely unfamiliar with Muir because they seek news elsewhere — and it’s for a political event in polarized times.

Davis has a lower profile, though she hosts ABC’s nightly streaming newscast, fills in for Muir and has moderated presidential nominating debates in the past. Many will be seeing her in action Tuesday for the first time.

Although more complicated in the Trump years, the role of debate moderator is often akin to baseball umpires — it indicates they’ve done a good job when you don’t really notice them. If Muir or Davis figure prominently in Wednesday morning’s stories, that’s probably not a good sign.

“It’s absolutely a minefield,” said Tom Bettag, former ABC News “Nightline” producer. “Ask Chris Wallace.”

Wallace was well respected, considered even-handed and, in 2020 when he moderated the first Biden-Trump debate, was working at Fox News “so the Trump people couldn’t accuse him of being a liberal hack,” Bettag said. “And it still blew up pretty badly. ” Trump’s frequent interruptions exasperated Biden and led to criticism that Wallace lost control of the evening.

The moderators will be ‘there to facilitate’

There’s less of a chance of that happening this year because debate rules call for a candidate’s microphone to be muted when their opponent is speaking, something Trump’s campaign sought because interruptions turn many voters off.

An open mic led to one of Harris’ most-remembered exchanges in her 2020 debate with Vice President Mike Pence. “Mr. Vice President, I am speaking,” she said when Pence interrupted one of her answers, a moment many women could relate to in business situations with men.

While Bash and Tapper occasionally tried to steer Trump or Biden back to the questions when the politicians ducked in CNN’s June debate, they would not correct any lies or misstatements, many of which were pointed out in post-debate analysis. While Klein would not commit to the same policy, he did say that “it’s a debate between them and we’re there to facilitate the conversation.”

Even before his Fox News appearance this week, Trump had repeatedly criticized ABC News, even though he agreed twice to participate in a debate on the network.

He has targeted network political journalists George Stephanopoulos and Jonathan Karl specifically. The former president last spring filed a defamation lawsuit against Stephanopoulos over comments the journalist made about Trump being held liable for sexually abusing advice columnist E. Jean Carroll. ABC has said Stephanopoulos is not involved in debate preparation.

Trump has also spoken about the reported friendship between Harris and Dana Walden, a top executive at ABC’s parent Walt Disney Co., whose oversight has recently expanded to include ABC News. ABC has said Walden is not involved in any news coverage decisions.

To a certain extent, Trump’s comments can be seen as “working the refs,” or appealing to supporters who don’t like the press. A nightmare scenario for ABC is Trump lashing out on Tuesday if he feels things aren’t going well for him.

“From our perspective, we just have to do our job and do it as well as we can,” Klein said.

He wouldn’t give any details about how ABC’s preparations are going, such as what figures have been assigned to portray Harris or Trump in mock debates.

Bettag, a University of Maryland journalism professor who is teaching a course this fall on covering the presidential campaign, has been involved in these preps before. He advises Muir and Davis to take some deep breaths.

“The most important thing is to stay cool, which is hard to do since they’re likely to get yelled at,” he said. “It’s really important to try to keep their voices down and stay steady.”

___

David Bauder writes about media for the AP. Follow him at

“The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” a docuseries following young wives in Utah, and the suspenseful thriller “Rebel Ridge” are some of the new television, films, music and games headed to a device near you.

Also among the streaming offerings worth your time as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists: the return of the acclaimed English spy series “Slow Horses,” Astro Bot gets his own full full-fledged adventure on the PlayStation 5 and George Strait will release his 31st studio album, “Cowboys and Dreamers.”

NEW MOVIES TO STREAM SEPT. 2-8

— Jeremy Saulnier makes lean, suspenseful thrillers, several of which (“Blue Ruin,” “The Green Room”) have turned into cult favorites. His latest, “Rebel Ridge” (on Netflix starting Friday, stars Aaron Pierre as an ex-Marine who becomes ensnared in a violent battle with a corrupt small-town police department and its chief (Don Johnson). The film, engrossing and stylish, is enlivened by the magnetic presence of Pierre.

— “The Boy and the Heron” didn’t turn out to be Hayao Miyazaki’s swan song. (He’s said to be at work again on another film.) But it did live up to the considerable expectations built up for the long-in-coming late opus from the Japanese anime master. The film, streaming Friday on Max, was the best animated feature winner at the Oscars earlier this year and – in a first for the 83-year-old Miyazaki – No. 1 for a weekend at the box office. In it, a 12-year-old boy named Mahito, uprooted from Tokyo after the death of his mother during World War II, discovers a portal into a fantastical realm. In my review, I wrote that “The Boy and the Heron” is like “returning to a faintly familiar dreamland. Only, since the only location here is really Miyazaki’s boundless imagination, it’s less the feeling of stepping back into a recognizable place than it is revisiting a well-remembered sense of discombobulation and wonder.”

— AP Film Writer Jake Coyle

NEW MUSIC TO STREAM SEPT. 2-8

— They call him King George for a reason. On Friday, George Strait will release his 31st studio album, “Cowboys and Dreamers,” a collection of classic-sounding contemporary country from a Texas troubadour who has nothing left to prove, and no reason to quit. Standouts include a collaboration with Chris Stapleton (“Honky Tonk Hall of Fame”), who opened for Strait on his recent stadium tour, a cover of Waylon Jennings’ “Waymore’s Blues,” and the Jimmy Buffet-informed vacation stomper, “MIA Down in MIA.”

— The internet was primed for an electroclash revival, and in The Dare, it has a figurehead. The musical project of Harrison Patrick Smith, The Dare has quickly become a stalwart of New York City nightlife, largely due to the success of his amorous anthem “Girls.” He’s further cemented his nascent fame by producing and co-writing “Guess,” a deluxe club tune from Charli XCX’s extended “BRAT,” and a remix featuring Billie Eilish. When his debut album releases on September 6, titled “What’s Wrong With New York?”, all eyes and ears will be back on his own nostalgic-sounding Anglophilia. Put on your best suit and hit the dance floor.

— MJ Lenderman is no stranger to this space — last year, AP named an album by his band, Asheville, North Carolina’s alt-country indie rockers Wednesday, as one of 2023’s best. As a soloist, the multi-instrumentalist — but perhaps most principally, a guitarist — has made a name for himself for his lax songwriting style – funny, acerbic, cutting with a wizened equanimity. On “Morning Fireworks,” his skills have been sharpened. Heartbreak is amusing and suburban and timeless. It, like last year’s “Rat Saw God,” feels like an easy contender for one of 2024’s most exciting releases.

— A master of disco, soul, R&B and beyond, Sylvester’s unimpeachable legacy gets a new release in “Live at The Opera House,” a massive collection of over two hours of material. That includes 13 songs captured from his performance at the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House on March 11, 1979. It will be released as a box set, for those looking to dive into its exclusive photographs and liner notes. For everyone else, it will hit streaming on Friday, Sept. 6.

— AP Music Writer Maria Sherman

NEW SHOWS TO STREAM SEPT. 2-8

— “Slow Horses,” Apple TV+ British spy series starring Gary Oldman, returns for season four just in time for the Primetime Emmy Awards. Season three received nine nominations including outstanding drama series and lead actor for Oldman. The show’s new season is also rated 100% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. In “Slow Horses,” MI5 agents who’ve made big mistakes are relegated to a division run by Oldman’s character Jackson Lamb. The story is based on Mick Herron’s “Slough House” novels. It returns Wednesday.

— First there was Bravo’s “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City,” and now Hulu is introducing “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” a docuseries following young wives in Utah who are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are also online influencers who banded together to create TikTok content they called #MomTok. The women juggle their online personas with family life and remaining in good standing with the Church — and each other — after a sex scandal brings worldwide attention. It premieres Friday.

— In “The Wonderland Massacre & The Secret History of Hollywood,” crime writer Michael Connelly examines the 1981 quadruple massacre at Wonderland Avenue in Los Angeles that inspired the film “Boogie Nights.” It premieres Sunday on MGM+.

— Alicia Rancilio

NEW VIDEO GAMES TO PLAY

— It’s been way too long since we’ve had a lovable new mascot to play with, but Sony is hoping Astro Bot can pick up the slack. The little guy first showed up in a game for Sony’s virtual reality headset, but this is the first time he’ll get a full-fledged adventure on the PlayStation 5. It begins with the destruction of the droid’s mothership, leaving him to travel across more than 50 planets to reassemble his crew — and perhaps meet some iconic PlayStation characters along the way. It’s the sort of running-and-jumping silliness that made stars out of Spyro the Dragon and Ratchet & Clank, interspersed with acrobatic flying antics. Astro Bot lifts off Friday.

— The Casting of Frank Stone is an intriguing collaboration between two preeminent horror game makers. It’s set in the world of Behaviour Interactive’s Dead By Daylight, a multiplayer survival hit, but it’s a solo game from Until Dark designer Supermassive Games. The title character is a serial killer, while the protagonists are four teenagers who come up with the brilliant idea of making a movie about him. If you’ve played either of the aforementioned titles, you know someone’s going to wind up on the wrong end of a meat hook. The gore starts flowing Tuesday on PlayStation 5, Xbox X/S and PC.

— Lou Kesten