Dan Balz Washington Post Columnist and TV Commentator

[ytmikelol]

If, for example, one political party wants to kill terrorist suspects without evidence, a trial, or any due process at all based on the signature of one man, the president. The other party wants to hold these suspects in detention indefinitely, same criteria. Would Dan Balz simply ask which choice the people will vote for, or would he have the courage and determination to go against both parties, proclaiming how wrong it is to trample the basic human rights protected by our Bill of Rights?

[MerlinYoda]

Mr. Balz probably wouldn't even answer Jan if he asked whether he preferred Coke of Pepsi for fear of sharing an opinion with others and somehow not being able to maintain his precious "objectivity" (however he defines that). :-)

[JartaMan]

Great videos. But is there a reason why you decided to dress up like hitler? ha ha haha...

[alalelalex]

A journalist without opinions on what is right and wrong objectively, is one that is incapable of reasoning.

[rumco]

Jan fails to understand that there ought to be no government so his question is irrelevant. Stealing money from people to pay for collective "security" is theft as much as stealing to provide health care. Both are redistributive.

[JohnCurtisFolkerts]

@mikrobspen, it's not a hitler look, more like Charlie Chaplin and the guy from Taxi. But anyways, Jan I'm glad you beefed up your video quality but he is right, you need to get better audio quality.

[mikrobspen]

Jan, I watch all your videos because you are a unique & interesting interviewer. But you are hurting your reputation by putting up a video with such poor audio. And the Hitler look doesn't work either.

[bryans42]

Good stuff!!

[WurledPeas]

Well....at least he didn't threaten to throw you out a window like Pete Stark did.

[nightpotato]

How can one be an objective journalist?

[janhelfeld]

@nightpotato Objectivity does not consist in not having views or not sharing them; it consists in focusing on the facts.

[nightpotato]

@janhelfeld I agree that concealing one's biases makes (as this person did) one a worse reporter. However, even a reporter who is open about his/her views, and tries to focus as much as possible on the facts will not be objective, don't you think? Its impossible to report every single fact. What the reporter selects for the story, and what they choose to discard will be colored by his/her views.

[rumco]

@janhelfeld Value judgments necessary influence (consciously or subconsciously) on which facts a journalist focuses so strictly speaking objective journalist would have to a robot. What could be called objective is the understanding of which facts are relevant.

[liOVERLOADil]

@janhelfeld When was the last time you read an article where the writers opinion wasn't involved? I would love to find the articles written by this mythological "objective journalist".

[1schwererziehbar1]

are you trying to look like hitler?

don't wear your hair like that when you have a beard like that, jan.

[badgenome]

Shorter Dan Balz: "I have views, but if I don't share them that makes me an objective journalist! Derp!"

[janhelfeld]

@badgenome I agree. Objectivity does not consist in not having views or not sharing them; it consists in focusing on the facts.

[tapary]

Hi Jan. I can clean up this audio for you if you'd like, and I'd be happy to do it at no charge as a donation. I would need the uncompressed audio though.

[snerka]

I really like your stuff Jan. Very rare approach and basically unheard of here in Sweden.

[janhelfeld]

@snerka I would love to do it in SWEDEN as well.

[Cailwyn]

/watch?v=tKyrck_HjU8

wow! full of opinions!!

[deadman12078]

I can understand being objective while writing and reporting. Your asking him HIS opinion though. Is he afraid of answering because it may cost him his job? Or is he so accustomed to being told what to say/write that he doesn't have an opinion.

[pbfrank13]

can barely understand because of the sound :( re-upload maybe?

[janhelfeld]

@pbfrank13 I apologize for the bad audio, the audio recorder broke and we could not rent a replacement at the FOX DEBATE until a day later.

[slonamu]

Unusable sound makes it impossible to watch. It is a pity because I know Jan Henfeld always produces excellent journalistic pieces:(

[CurtHowland]

Yet his personal bias pervades his "objective" reporting.

[jryan1971]

lmao he won't talk about anything

[GypsyHustled]

The sound is a bit weird on this one for some reason.

[janhelfeld]

@GypsyHustled I apologize for the bad audio, the audio recorder broke and we could not rent a replacement at the FOX DEBATE until a day later.