Okrent's Law

Okrent's Law (attributed to journalist Daniel Okrent) states that the pursuit of balance can create imbalance. When media or organisations try to present "both sides" of an issue where one side is clearly supported by evidence and the other is not, they grant equal weight to unequal positions — making the fringe view appear as credible as the established one. For founders, this extends beyond media: in meetings, strategy debates, and product decisions, forced balance can distort reality. Not every perspective deserves equal airtime. Weighting by evidence quality, not by who showed up, produces better decisions.

Weight by evidence, not by headcount or politeness. In decisions, don't give equal airtime to positions of unequal evidence quality. In communication, don't present fringe views alongside established ones as if they're equivalent. This doesn't mean ignoring dissent — it means calibrating how much weight each position gets based on evidence, not on the desire to seem fair. True balance is proportional to evidence; forced balance is a distortion.

Okrent's Law: forced balance between unequal positions creates imbalance, not fairness. Weight by evidence quality, not by the desire to seem neutral. In decisions and communication, calibrate airtime to evidence — true balance is proportional, not symmetrical.