GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump backed out of the scheduled Sept. 10 debate on ABC News with Democratic nominee Kamala Harris. But that's OK: he unilaterally decided to have one with her on Fox News instead, in front of a crowd in an arena.
Harris has not agreed to it and intends to proceed with the Sept. 10 event. The dating of the Sept 4. "debate" allows Trump to pose her as the party unwilling to participate.
Most media report this context, but I was not surprised to see The New York Times report it as "Trump Agrees to a Fox News Debate With Harris on Sept. 4," using his wording as its headline. This suggests that he was talked into it and that Harris is on the hook to do it, neither of which is true. Harris doing well in the polls means you're going to start seeing this kind of steering, editorializing and perspective management; whatever the journalistic intent, the incentive is to bring the horse race back to parity. Another example at the Times today is "Should Harris Talk Much About Her Racial Identity? Many Voters Say No." — a near-perfect example of reporters being sent to out to find vox pops that express an editor's opinion.
