ABC NEWS TO BROADCAST FIRST PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE ON FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26

Charles Gibson, Diane Sawyer & George Stephanopoulos to Anchor Live Coverage

Reporting to Include Diane Sawyer's One-Hour Special on the Candidates

ABC News will broadcast the first presidential debate at the University of Mississippi on Friday, September 26th at 9:00 p.m., ET / 6:00 p.m., PT. Charles Gibson, Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopolous will anchor ABC's live coverage from New York. They'll be joined by Jake Tapper and David Wright reporting from the debate site in Mississippi. National Security Correspondent Jon Karl will report from the ABC News Fact Check Desk. ABC News Commentator George Will and New York Times Columnists Tom Friedman will contribute post-debate analysis.

At 8:00 p.m., ET / 10:00 p.m., PT on Friday, ABC News will air a one-hour special edition of "20/20" on the candidates. Anchored by Diane Sawyer, the program will examine the personal crises, family struggles and defining events that shaped Senators McCain and Obama. The second part of this special will air on October 3 at 10:00 p.m., ET and will offer an intimate look at the personal and family lives of these men.

ABC News NOW will provide live coverage hosted by Sam Donaldson in DC and Rick Klein live at the University of Mississippi.

ABCNEWS.com will live stream ABC News NOW's coverage of the debate from 8:00-11:00 p.m. Rick Klein will blog during the live debate, engaging users, and there will be reports from the debate hall and spin room throughout the evening. Additionally, ABCNEWS.com will report from the ABC Fact Check desk where a team of producers and reporters will be vetting debate remarks.

Aaron Katersky will anchor ABC News Radio's live coverage of Friday night's debate at 9 p.m., ET from the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi. ABC News Political Analysts Torie Clarke and Steve Roberts will contribute to the coverage.

ABC NewsOne, the affiliate news feed service of ABC News, will provide live reports from the University of Mississippi with ABC News correspondent Linsey Davis.