Laura Ling
Encyclopedia
Laura G. Ling is an American
journalist, working for Current TV
as a correspondent and vice president of its Vanguard Journalism Unit, which produces the Vanguard TV series
. She is the sister of Lisa Ling
, who is a special correspondent for The Oprah Winfrey Show
, National Geographic Explorer
, and CNN
. Ling and fellow journalist Euna Lee
were detained in North Korea after they illegally crossed into North Korea
from the People's Republic of China
without a visa. They were tried and convicted, then subsequently pardoned after former US President
Bill Clinton
flew to North Korea to meet with Kim Jong-il
.
, Taiwan
, and formerly served as the head of the Los Angeles
office of the Formosan Association for Public Affairs
. They divorced when Laura Ling was 4 years old and her sister Lisa was 7. Following the divorce, the two sisters were raised in the city of Sacramento, California
by their father. Ling describes herself as Chinese American
, but a friend described her as "a true Valley girl ... about as Chinese as the cuisine at Chin Chin". She studied at Del Campo High School
in Fair Oaks, California
; an English teacher there, who taught both Ling and her sister, claimed that when he first knew Ling, she was already interested in following her sister's footsteps into the journalism field; he described her as "different from her sister ... and more determined, in a sense". She went on to graduate with a communications degree from the University of California, Los Angeles
in 1998.
On June 3, 2010, Ling gave birth to a girl, naming her Li Jefferson Clayton, in Burbank, California
. Laura and her husband decided to name the baby Li, after Laura's sister Lisa, and chose Jefferson as a middle name as a tribute to former President William Jefferson Clinton.
, then a documentary series for MTV
. Afterward, Ling joined Current TV
, where she reported on issues about Cuba
, Indonesia
, the Philippines
, Turkey
, the West Bank
, and the Amazon River
, as well as about shantytowns in Sao Paulo, Brazil, gangs and homeless teens in Los Angeles
, and underground churches in China
. Prior to her detention, she had been reporting about the Mexican Drug War
.
Ling is set to host a one-hour news show on E!. The show premiered on Dec. 8, 2010.
were the journalists that had been detained, after they attempted to film
refugees along the border with China. In June 2009, they were sentenced to 12 years in a labor prison for illegal entry into North Korea, and unspecified hostile acts. Many in the media called it a show trial
. The United States
government made diplomatic efforts to oppose this sentence before their release in August 2009.
Lisa Ling stated that when they left the United States, her sister and Lee never intended to cross into North Korea. She has also revealed that her sister requires medical treatment for an ulcer
from which she is currently suffering.
Ling was pardoned along with Euna Lee, and they have both returned to the United States following an unannounced visit to North Korea by former US President Bill Clinton on August 4, 2009. Some human rights activists in South Korea have accused Lee and Ling of needlessly placing North Korean refugees in danger by not being more careful with their tapes and notebooks in the event they were apprehended.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
journalist, working for Current TV
Current TV
Current TV, or Current, is a media company led by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and businessman Joel Hyatt. Comcast owns a ten percent stake of Current's parent company, Current Media LLC....
as a correspondent and vice president of its Vanguard Journalism Unit, which produces the Vanguard TV series
Vanguard (TV series)
Vanguard is a television documentary series broadcast on the Current TV television network. Currently in its fifth season, Vanguard reports on such issues as the environment, drugs and the effects of globalization and conflict....
. She is the sister of Lisa Ling
Lisa Ling
Lisa J. Ling is a Chinese American journalist, best known for her role as a co-host of ABC's The View , host of National Geographic Explorer, reporter on Channel One News, and special correspondent for the Oprah Winfrey Show and CNN. She is the older sister of journalist Laura Ling.-Early...
, who is a special correspondent for The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show is an American syndicated talk show hosted and produced by its namesake Oprah Winfrey. It ran nationally for 25 seasons beginning in 1986, before concluding in 2011. It is the highest-rated talk show in American television history....
, National Geographic Explorer
National Geographic Explorer
National Geographic Explorer is an American documentary television series that originally premiered on Nickelodeon on April 7, 1985, after having been produced as a less costly and intensive alternative to PBS's National Geographic Specials by Pittsburgh station WQED...
, and CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
. Ling and fellow journalist Euna Lee
Euna Lee
Euna Lee is a South Korean-born American journalist who has worked for Current TV since 2005. Lee and fellow journalist Laura Ling were detained in North Korea after they crossed into the Democratic People's Republic of Korea from the People's Republic of China without a visa...
were detained in North Korea after they illegally crossed into North Korea
North Korea
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...
from the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
without a visa. They were tried and convicted, then subsequently pardoned after former US President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
flew to North Korea to meet with Kim Jong-il
Kim Jong-il
Kim Jong-il, also written as Kim Jong Il, birth name Yuri Irsenovich Kim born 16 February 1941 or 16 February 1942 , is the Supreme Leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea...
.
Personal life
Ling's father Doug is a Chinese immigrant, born in the 1920s; her mother Mary Mei-yan (born Wang) hails from TainanTainan
Tainan City is a city in southern Taiwan. It is the fifth largest after New Taipei, Kaohsiung, Taichung, and Taipei. It was formerly a provincial city, and in 2010, the provincial city merged with the adjacent Tainan County to form a single special municipality. Tainan faces the Taiwan Strait in...
, Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
, and formerly served as the head of the Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
office of the Formosan Association for Public Affairs
Formosan Association for Public Affairs
The Formosan Association for Public Affairs is a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization that seeks to build worldwide support for Taiwan independence. Its 52 chapters also seek to advance the interests of Taiwanese people and communities around the world. Currently, the President of FAPA...
. They divorced when Laura Ling was 4 years old and her sister Lisa was 7. Following the divorce, the two sisters were raised in the city of Sacramento, California
Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
by their father. Ling describes herself as Chinese American
Chinese American
Chinese Americans represent Americans of Chinese descent. Chinese Americans constitute one group of overseas Chinese and also a subgroup of East Asian Americans, which is further a subgroup of Asian Americans...
, but a friend described her as "a true Valley girl ... about as Chinese as the cuisine at Chin Chin". She studied at Del Campo High School
Del Campo High School
Del Campo High School, a member of the San Juan Unified School District, is a public high school in Fair Oaks, California.-Academic curriculum:...
in Fair Oaks, California
Fair Oaks, California
Fair Oaks is a census-designated place in Sacramento County, California, United States. It is part of the Sacramento–Arden-Arcade–Roseville Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 30,912 at the 2010 census, up from 28,008 at the 2000 census. Fair Oaks's zip code is 95628...
; an English teacher there, who taught both Ling and her sister, claimed that when he first knew Ling, she was already interested in following her sister's footsteps into the journalism field; he described her as "different from her sister ... and more determined, in a sense". She went on to graduate with a communications degree from the University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...
in 1998.
On June 3, 2010, Ling gave birth to a girl, naming her Li Jefferson Clayton, in Burbank, California
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
. Laura and her husband decided to name the baby Li, after Laura's sister Lisa, and chose Jefferson as a middle name as a tribute to former President William Jefferson Clinton.
Career
Ling's career as a journalist began when she became a producer at Channel One NewsChannel One News
Channel One News is a 12 minute news program for teens broadcast via satellite to middle schools and high schools across the United States. Channel One is owned by Alloy Media + Marketing and based in New York City.-Program History:...
, then a documentary series for MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
. Afterward, Ling joined Current TV
Current TV
Current TV, or Current, is a media company led by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and businessman Joel Hyatt. Comcast owns a ten percent stake of Current's parent company, Current Media LLC....
, where she reported on issues about Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
, Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
, the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, the West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
, and the Amazon River
Amazon River
The Amazon of South America is the second longest river in the world and by far the largest by waterflow with an average discharge greater than the next seven largest rivers combined...
, as well as about shantytowns in Sao Paulo, Brazil, gangs and homeless teens in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, and underground churches in China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
. Prior to her detention, she had been reporting about the Mexican Drug War
Mexican Drug War
The Mexican Drug War is an ongoing armed conflict taking place among rival drug cartels who fight each other for regional control, and Mexican government forces who seek to combat drug trafficking. However, the government's principal goal has been to put down the drug-related violence that was...
.
Ling is set to host a one-hour news show on E!. The show premiered on Dec. 8, 2010.
2009 detention in North Korea
In the last week of March, 2009, North Korea announced that two American journalists were detained and would be indicted and tried for illegally entering the country. On May 3, 2009, it was officially announced that Ling and fellow journalist Euna LeeEuna Lee
Euna Lee is a South Korean-born American journalist who has worked for Current TV since 2005. Lee and fellow journalist Laura Ling were detained in North Korea after they crossed into the Democratic People's Republic of Korea from the People's Republic of China without a visa...
were the journalists that had been detained, after they attempted to film
Secret photography
Secret photography refers to the use of an image or video recording device to photograph or film a person who is unaware that they are being intentionally photographed or filmed...
refugees along the border with China. In June 2009, they were sentenced to 12 years in a labor prison for illegal entry into North Korea, and unspecified hostile acts. Many in the media called it a show trial
Show trial
The term show trial is a pejorative description of a type of highly public trial in which there is a strong connotation that the judicial authorities have already determined the guilt of the defendant. The actual trial has as its only goal to present the accusation and the verdict to the public as...
. The United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
government made diplomatic efforts to oppose this sentence before their release in August 2009.
Lisa Ling stated that when they left the United States, her sister and Lee never intended to cross into North Korea. She has also revealed that her sister requires medical treatment for an ulcer
Peptic ulcer
A peptic ulcer, also known as PUD or peptic ulcer disease, is the most common ulcer of an area of the gastrointestinal tract that is usually acidic and thus extremely painful. It is defined as mucosal erosions equal to or greater than 0.5 cm...
from which she is currently suffering.
Ling was pardoned along with Euna Lee, and they have both returned to the United States following an unannounced visit to North Korea by former US President Bill Clinton on August 4, 2009. Some human rights activists in South Korea have accused Lee and Ling of needlessly placing North Korean refugees in danger by not being more careful with their tapes and notebooks in the event they were apprehended.