Pollster Nate Silver says that reporting “both sides” of a story is better than the alternatives, to which Matt agrees but makes a narrow objection: That style of reporting crumbled in the last presidential election, not in the run-up to 2016. Laura looks at how events like the Iraq War and Bush v. Gore inspired a generation of journalists to push beyond the “both sides” dynamic. Both discuss how covid further broke the “both sides” standard, convincing journalists there was no “other side” to the lab leak theory. Matt says journalists could use a little humility before making those kinds of judgments.