Why both?
There are plenty he said/she said type stories that actually don't cover a straight-up conflict. Even, say, net neutrality has at its core some technical issues that just about everybody glosses over or hasn't even noticed, layered over with policy issues where various ISPs did some seriously questionable things and handled the fall-out poorly, giving fertile ground to huge discussions and push that inevitably caused big corporate to push back, and so on, and so forth.
Or, on an entirely different note, there was a comment not too long ago that the whole (entrenched!) he said/she said approach to science was basically bunk. Say you're a journo and you report some scientific findings in biology or maybe about a dino dig in some desert, and then you ring up the local church for a "balanced" view.
That is a very shinily polished "high quality journalism" turd. Very nice gloss, but still a turd.
In fact, it wasn't journalism, but stirring up controversy where there is none, while hiding behind a "I'm a journo, I'm neutral, honest!" mask. That this is easy to do because too many people don't understand the one has nothing on the other is one of the very reasons why such anti-science movements can exist. And our dear journo isn't helping. That the journo didn't understand that journalism is more than simply picking up some story and then finding a different voice to pose as a counter-view for that "fair and balanced" touch is fairly damning on the journo and whoever taught him.
You're right that simply sticking labels on each and everyone isn't very useful. I would contend that "fair and balanced" is useful in those cases where you do have a straight-up conflict, but it is a tad overused and there are plenty other ways to bring the news and even stir in a bit of opinion or analysis without unduly colouring the reporting, and that in fact most of those other ways go severely underused.