[applause] >> we want to start by saying that our family is so grateful to tim russert. he was instrumental in establishing the david bloom award. we want you to know that we miss your dad dearly. [applause] six years ago, our father, david bloom, passed away while covering the war in iraq. despite how difficult it was to lose him, we can't help but be so proud of his courage and reporting. tonight, however, we're not just remembering our dad. we are honoring all of the u.s. troops and brave journalists who continually put themselves in harm's way to do dangerous work. the winner of the david j. blum award shows bravery on the job. tonight, we're pleased to present this year's award to oral lebaron of the bbc. >> in the fall of 2008, garon produced a report on a day of desperation for thousands of refugees near goma. the presidential election was just days away, but the bbc decided that the panic at a un food distribution center out with a campaign. he reported as starving men, women, and children crushed against the fences of the center. she even talked a little girl th

host: how has the passing of tim russert changed your approach? guest: it has not changed our approach at all. we will not change will we have always done. we will not try to fix something we do not believe at this point is broken. but i missed him a great deal and we were great friends personally. we had been close friends for many years. our seats were together out at the nationals ball park. we talked a lot of politics whil the team was playing baseball out there. for me, the passing of tim was a real personal loss. he really had a tremendous impact on the sunday morning programs. simply because he did it right. he played the game right. nothing fancy, but he just did his homework and asked the right questions. he was very persistent. tim russert was how you can be aggressive in questioning, but not necessarily antagonistic. we get a lot, and i am sure many other shows do too, because of these opinion shows many people do their version of objectivity -- from their point of view. it is not objective unless you agree with their particular percept

we dedicate this moment to the memory of tim russert. thank you for watching close-up at the newseum. we hope you will join us again next week. so long. [applause]

[applause] because tim russert when i wrote "bias" and, you see i have no constitutional right to be on anybody's tv show or radio show, so the fact that nbc, abc, cbs, npr was really

tim russert used to say there are no bells or whistles on what we do. we just sit them down at the table, turned on the lights come and ask questions. that is what we do. it is not about antics, but to questions, or tricks, or anchors who show off. it is simply asking people questions about what the news of the day is. there still seems to be the need for that and a market for that. "face the nation" and "meet the press" this week, the program on fox -- these are places where washington talks to other people in washington, but also where the ideas first get laid out for people to think about. then washington generally chews on that for the rest of the week. so, i think we do serve a real purpose and what we do. i don't want to be too noble- sounding about it, but that is what we do. it used to be that the ideas got flooded out by the super- columnists. certain people of a given nature. now people come on the sunday shows and just lay out these ideas. host: what was the toughest interview you ever conducted? guest: i do not know, they all present their o

russert she wouldn't run in 2008 and then he began to hedge the statement. >> guest: he did and it's interesting watching him hedge because he's actually quite honest. he doesn't try to fake it. he doesn't say i never said that. he says well, given the response to what life seemed i am thinking about it. i haven't thought about it with the seriousness it deserves. that is what heat told him russert. he's all this tremendous public attention. he had a book coming out, he engineered a book to work where he was also supporting congressional candidates and the crowds he was seeing, you know he told me one key signal is when people started scalping free tickets to see him at a bookstore that he realized it was getting out of control. they also fueled the speculation. he went on to iowa to the steak fry and they sent a political operative who had no real relation ship, a guy named steve to see if they could observe and bond and in theory to staff up senator obama at the time they knew that what will trigger a new round of speculation among the political media in washington and it did and