False balance , also bothsidesism , is a media bias in which
journalists present an issue as being more balanced between opposing
viewpoints than the evidence supports. Journalists may present evidence and
arguments out of proportion to the actual evidence for each side, or may omit
information that would establish one side's claims as baseless. False balance
has been cited as a cause of misinformation.
False balance is a bias which usually stems from an attempt to avoid bias and
gives unsupported or dubious positions an illusion of respectability.