Charlie Gibson & Diane Sawyer to Moderate Primetime Health Care Conversation from the White House

By Chris Ariens 

As the president continues to sell his health care plan – today in front of doctors at the AMA conference in Chicago – ABC News announced it is hosting a primetime special called “Questions for the President: Prescription for America.”

Next Wednesday June 24 at 10pmET Charles Gibson and Diane Sawyer will moderate what ABC News calls “a primetime conversation” with President Obama about the future of U.S. health care.

During the discussion from the East Room, President Obama will answer questions from an audience made up of Americans selected by ABC News. ABC’s medical editor Dr. Timothy Johnson will also take part.

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“Good Morning America” and “World News” will originate from the White House next Wednesday and the conversation will continue later on Nightline.

WebNewser has more on how ABCNews.com is taking part in the conversation. The ABC News press release with more details, after the jump…


June 15, 2009

QUESTIONS FOR THE PRESIDENT: PRESCRIPTION FOR AMERICA

ABC News’ Charles Gibson and Diane Sawyer to Moderate a Primetime Conversation with President Barack Obama about the Future of the Nation’s Healthcare System

Special Edition of ‘Primetime’ to Air from the White House Wednesday, June 24th at 10pm ET

“Questions for the President: Prescription for America” to Continue on “Nightline” at 11:35pm ET

“Good Morning America” and “World News” to Originate From the White House on Wednesday

“GMA” to Feature Exclusive Interview with President Obama

As the nation debates sweeping changes in healthcare, ABC News’ Charles Gibson and Diane Sawyer will moderate a conversation with President Obama about this critical issue on the nation’s agenda. A special edition of Primetime “Questions for the President: Prescription for America” will air on Wednesday, June 24th from 10:00-11:00 PM ET on the ABC Television Network.

The health care conversation will continue on “Nightline” at 11:35pm ET.

During the discussion from the East Room of the White House, President Obama will answer questions from an audience made up of Americans selected by ABC News who have divergent opinions in this historic debate. ABC News’ Medical Editor Dr. Timothy Johnson will also take part in the conversation which will focus on different ideas for how to fix the system and how proposed changes will impact our already fragile economy.

Wednesday morning’s “Good Morning America” will originate from the South Lawn of the White House and will include an exclusive interview with President Obama. He sits down with Diane Sawyer to discuss healthcare and other issues on the nation’s agenda. Wednesday’s program will also feature portions of Robin Roberts’ exclusive interview with First Lady Michelle Obama.

Charles Gibson will anchor “World News” from the Blue Room of the White House on Wednesday.

ABCNews.com will invite viewers to join the discussion and share their questions about health care reform at ABCNews.com/Politics starting Tuesday, June 16th. ABCNews.com will be working with Digg.com to select popular questions voted on by online users and some of those questions will be put to President Obama during the program. ABC News’ daily political webcast, “Top Line”, will focus on health care reform throughout the week of June 22. ABCNews.com senior political reporter and author of the Note, Rick Klein, will live-blog and interact with users as the forum airs and full video coverage of the forum will be posted online. A special section of ABCNews.com/Politics dedicated to the health care debate will offer comprehensive coverage of the forum and will continue as legislation is taken up in Congress.

ABC News Radio will air portions of “Questions for the President: Prescription for America” and will also produce a special edition of its weekly news magazine PERSPECTIVE, that will include portions of the special. PERSPECTIVE will be available to ABC News Radio affiliates for use over the weekend of June 27-28.

Marc Burstein is the executive producer of the special edition of Primetime “Questions for the President: Prescription for America.”

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