Former Politico reporter Joe Williams says his firing by the news organization is a symptom of a right-wing noise machine that targets perceived liberal bias in the press. Williams says of the right-wing websites that “they are self-appointed watchdogs. They have taken it upon themselves to root out what they say is a liberal bias in the media … creating it where it doesn’t exist.” Williams also points out that the political leanings of individual journalists are less important than their ability to apply a layer of thought to the news: “We can be objective. What we can’t do is turn off our brains. Sometimes both sides don’t deserve equal weight,” Williams says.
