US elections: This week's debate important for Biden, Trump, and CNN

Joe Biden and Donald Trump won't be alone at Thursday's debate. Moderators Dana Bash and Jake Tapper of CNN will be on camera, too, and there's a lot on the line for their network as it fights for relevance in a changing media environment.

CNN has hosted dozens of town halls and political forums through the years, but never a general election presidential debate, let alone one so early in a campaign. No network has.

This is a huge moment for CNN, said former CNN Washington bureau chief Frank Sesno, now a media and public affairs professor at George Washington University. CNN has to reassert itself. It has to show that it led a revolution in news before and can do it again.

As a television network, CNN is struggling at a time many consumers are cutting off cable and most news outlets wonder if the campaign will ignite consumer interest.

Those that remain have expressed a clear preference for opinion programming. Fox News Channel has averaged 2.14 million viewers in prime time this .