Moving Away From ‘Bothsideism’ in Journalism

The historical understanding for what objectivity looks like in journalism takes the form in a practice now dubbed bothsideism. The practice of bothsideism arises from a journalist’s goal to be and appear unbiased, so in efforts to not appear biased, journalists who partake in bothsideism provide equal coverage to both arguments of a debate. The weight-of-evidence approach offers an alternative way to cover various debates. It instructs journalists to provide an amount of space to an opinion that is proportionate to its prevalence among the general public. This strategy can help more accurately paint the number of people who align on certain issues.