The problems are well-known and highly-documented. You should leave the determination of (b) up to those who know and understand (a), which includes the author.
It does poison the article, when someone is talking about subject X, and then they feel the need to insert their political opinion about person Y and that dont' like that Z is left-wing/right-wing. It makes them seem not at all objective, and calls into doubt what else they are not being objective about in their article.
