Laura Ling
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Laura Ling (born December 1, 1976) is an American
journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...
and writer. She worked for
Current TV Current TV was an American television channel which broadcast from August 1, 2005, to August 20, 2013. Prior INdTV founders Al Gore and Joel Hyatt, with Ronald Burkle, each held a sizable stake in Current TV. Comcast and DirecTV each held a smalle ...
as a correspondent and vice president of its Vanguard Journalism Unit, which produced the ''Vanguard'' TV series. She was the host and reporter on ''E! Investigates'', a documentary series on the E! Network. In November 2014, Ling joined
Discovery Digital Networks Discovery Digital Networks was a San Francisco based multi-channel Internet television and digital cable network that created, produced and distributed streaming television shows on niche topics. It was sold by Discovery Communications into Group ...
as its Director of Development. In 2009, Ling and fellow journalist
Euna Lee Euna Lee (Hangul:유나 리; born 1972) is a Korean American journalist. While working for Current TV, Lee and fellow journalist Laura Ling were detained in North Korea after they crossed into the Democratic People's Republic of Korea from th ...
were detained in North Korea after they started filming refugees from the country who had crossed the river and entered China. Many of these refugees were women, and once across the border, they were often sold as brides. Ling said that the North Korean guards dragged her across the border. Once in North Korea the two women were tried and convicted. They were pardoned after former
U.S. President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
flew to North Korea to meet with Kim Jong-il and appeal on their behalf. Ling and her older sister,
Lisa Ling Lisa J. Ling (born August 30, 1973) is an American journalist, television personality, and author. She is currently the host of '' This Is Life with Lisa Ling '' on CNN. Previously, she was a reporter on Channel One News, a co-host on the ABC da ...
, are daughters of Taiwanese and Chinese immigrants. They grew up in Carmichael and Sacramento, California. Both became journalists and her sister is a special correspondent for ''
The Oprah Winfrey Show ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', often referred to as ''The Oprah Show'' or simply ''Oprah'', is an American daytime syndicated talk show that aired nationally for 25 seasons from September 8, 1986, to May 25, 2011, in Chicago, Illinois. Produced ...
'', ''
National Geographic Explorer ''National Geographic Explorer'' (or simply ''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 ' ...
'', and
CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
.


Early life and education

Laura Ling was born in Carmichael, California. Her mother, Mary Mei-yan (née Wang), is a Taiwanese immigrant from
Tainan Tainan (), officially Tainan City, is a special municipality in southern Taiwan facing the Taiwan Strait on its western coast. Tainan is the oldest city on the island and also commonly known as the "Capital City" for its over 200 years of his ...
,
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
. She formerly served as the head of the
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
office of the
Formosan Association for Public Affairs The Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA) is a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization that seeks to build worldwide support for Taiwan independence. Its name "Formosan" refers to Taiwan's historical name of "Formosa", and its ...
. Her father, Chung Teh "Douglas" Ling, is a Chinese immigrant from
Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
, where he was born in 1937. She has an older sister
Lisa Ling Lisa J. Ling (born August 30, 1973) is an American journalist, television personality, and author. She is currently the host of '' This Is Life with Lisa Ling '' on CNN. Previously, she was a reporter on Channel One News, a co-host on the ABC da ...
, who is now a journalist. Ling's parents divorced when she was four years old. Following the divorce, she and her sister were raised by their father in
Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...
. Ling attended
Del Campo High School Del Campo High School, is a public high school in Fair Oaks, California. It is a member of the San Juan Unified School District and serves western Fair Oaks and eastern Carmichael. Academic curriculum Del Campo’s academic program is valid ...
in
Fair Oaks, California Fair Oaks is a census-designated place (CDP) in Sacramento County, California, United States. It is part of the Sacramento–Arden-Arcade– Roseville Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 32,514 at the 2020 census, up fro ...
. In 1998, Ling graduated with a communications degree from
UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...
. At UCLA Ling served as a student analyst for the Center for Communication Policy. There, she worked on the ''Violence Assessment Project'' studying television programs.


Career

She first worked as a correspondent for KCET's ''SoCal Connected'' and producer at
Channel One News Channel One News was an American news content provider. The daily news program was accompanied by commercial advertising for marketing in schools, with supplementary educational resources. The Peabody award-winning Channel One News program w ...
. She co-created ''Breaking it Down'', a documentary series on MTV that aired between 1999 and 2001.Biography
; Discovery News; November 12, 2014
Next Ling joined
Current TV Current TV was an American television channel which broadcast from August 1, 2005, to August 20, 2013. Prior INdTV founders Al Gore and Joel Hyatt, with Ronald Burkle, each held a sizable stake in Current TV. Comcast and DirecTV each held a smalle ...
, where she reported on issues about
Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
,
Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
, the
Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...
,
Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
, the
West Bank The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...
, and the Amazon River, as well as about shantytowns in
Sao Paulo, Brazil SAO or Sao may refer to: Places * Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD * Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso * Saco Transportation Center (station code SAO), a train station in Saco, Maine, U.S. ...
, gangs and homeless teens in Los Angeles, and
underground church The term underground church () is used to refer to Chinese Catholic churches in the People's Republic of China which have chosen not to associate with the state-sanctioned Catholic Patriotic Association, they are also called ''loyal church'' (). U ...
es in China. Prior to her detention, she had reported on the Mexican Drug War. When Ling was captured and detained, she was undercover making a documentary about
North Korean defector Since the division of Korea after the end of World War II, North Koreans have fled from the country in spite of legal punishment for political, ideological, religious, economic, moral, personal, or nutritional reasons. Such North Koreans are re ...
s, who were primarily women. She explored the dangers they faced after crossing the Chinese border at the
Tumen River The Tumen River, also known as the Tuman River or Duman River (), is a long river that serves as part of the boundary between China, North Korea and Russia, rising on the slopes of Mount Paektu and flowing into the Sea of Japan. The river ha ...
, including forced marriages and trafficking, deportation, and being criminalized. Ling hosted a one-hour news show on E! Network, entitled ''E! Investigates,'' which premiered on December 8, 2010. The show targeted a younger audience and focused on pop culture. Her second show on E! was called ''Society X with Laura Ling'', which aired on October 3, 2013''.'' In addition, Ling hosted a nightly news program on KCET, which focused on local news in Los Angeles. Ling has also worked on projects for Nightline,
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
,
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
, and
The WB The WB Television Network (for Warner Bros., or the "Frog Network", for its former mascot, Michigan J. Frog) was an American television network launched on terrestrial television, broadcast television on January 11, 1995, as a joint venture be ...
(now
The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...
). In 2015, Ling partnered with The ONE Campaign to make a documentary ''How Africa is Hacking Its Energy Crisis'', which was posted on the Seeker Stories YouTube channel. Ling also created and reported on ''Rituals with Laura Ling'', which was also posted to the Seeker Stories YouTube channel.


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 announced that Ling and fellow journalist
Euna Lee Euna Lee (Hangul:유나 리; born 1972) is a Korean American journalist. While working for Current TV, Lee and fellow journalist Laura Ling were detained in North Korea after they crossed into the Democratic People's Republic of Korea from th ...
were the journalists who had been detained, after they attempted to film refugees and defectors 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. Of the trial, Ling later said,
"I had tried to prepare myself for a lengthy sentence, but really nothing could prepare me for the verdict when I heard the words twelve years...he said, no forgiveness, no appeal...And I was wondering if those words meant that the window of opportunity had closed and my fate was sealed."
Many in the media called it a show trial. The US government made diplomatic efforts to oppose this sentence before the women were released in August 2009. Lisa Ling stated that when her sister and Lee left the United States, they never intended to cross into North Korea. She also said that her sister had required medical treatment for an
ulcer An ulcer is a discontinuity or break in a bodily membrane that impedes normal function of the affected organ. According to Robbins's pathology, "ulcer is the breach of the continuity of skin, epithelium or mucous membrane caused by sloughing o ...
. In 2010, Ling co-wrote a memoir with her sister Lisa, ''Somewhere Inside: One Sister's Captivity in North Korea and the Other's Fight to Bring Her Home''.


Diplomatic crisis

Many in both the United States and South Korea have accused Ling and Lee of creating a diplomatic crisis with North Korea during a particularly tense emergency that was already underway between North Korea and the United States. Both Ling and Lee addressed these allegations in their memoirs. 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. In the efforts to negotiate Ling and Lee's release, diplomatic envoys were brought up as an option, and many different envoys were considered including the Governor of New Mexico,
Bill Richardson William Blaine Richardson III (born November 15, 1947) is an American politician, author, and diplomat who served as the 30th governor of New Mexico from 2003 to 2011. He was also the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and Energy Secretary ...
, former US
President Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 76th governor of Georgia from 1 ...
, US Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
and former US
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
. The latter was ultimately accepted as an envoy by the North Korean regime. Ling was pardoned along with Lee, and they returned to the United States following an unannounced visit to North Korea by Bill Clinton on August 4, 2009.


Awards

Ling was named one of ''Glamour'' magazine's Women of the Year in 2009. In 2011, Ling received the McGill Medal for Journalistic Courage from the
Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication The Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication is a constituent college of the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, United States. Established in 1915, Grady College offers undergraduate degrees in journalism, advertising, public re ...
. In 2014, she won an Emmy Award and an Edward R. Murrow Award (Radio Television Digital News Association) for ''SoCal Connected''.Biography
; Discovery News; November 12, 2014
In 2012, Ling was inducted into the San Juan Education Foundation Hall of Fame. As the Director of Development and Correspondent for
Discovery Digital Networks Discovery Digital Networks was a San Francisco based multi-channel Internet television and digital cable network that created, produced and distributed streaming television shows on niche topics. It was sold by Discovery Communications into Group ...
, Ling won a
Gracie Award The Gracie Awards are awards presented by the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation (AWM) in the United States, to celebrate and honor programming created for women, by women, and about women, as well as individuals who have made exemplary contr ...
in 2016. While she was the vice president of ''Vanguard'', the show won several awards including a Peabody Award, two Emmy nominations, a
Prism Award The Entertainment Industries Council is a United States non-profit organization founded in 1983 that promotes the depiction of accurate health and social issues in film, television, music, and comic books. The Council provides guidelines on the depi ...
, and an
Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award The Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award honors excellence in broadcast and digital journalism in the public service and is considered one of the most prestigious awards in journalism. The awards were established in 1942 and administered ...
.


Personal life

Laura Ling is married to Iain Clayton, a financial analyst. They have a daughter, Li Jefferson Clayton, born on June 3, 2010. She was named after Ling's sister, Lisa, and President Bill Clinton, whose middle name is Jefferson. They have a son, Kai Clayton, born on December 18, 2013.


Published works

*


See also

*
List of Americans detained by North Korea This is a list of foreign nationals who have been detained in North Korea. Excluded from the list are any persons who were detained while on active military duty and held as Korean War POWs detained in North Korea, prisoners of war or List of Ame ...
* Han Park


References


External links


Laura Ling reunite with family
*E! Investigates ** ** ** ** * *
How Africa is Hacking its Energy Crisis

Rituals with Laura Ling
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ling, Laura 1976 births American journalists of Chinese descent 21st-century American memoirists American people imprisoned abroad American women writers of Chinese descent American writers of Taiwanese descent American television reporters and correspondents Current TV people Journalists from California Living people North Korea–United States relations People from Sacramento, California Prisoners and detainees of North Korea Recipients of North Korean pardons University of California, Los Angeles alumni Writers from California American women television journalists American writers of Chinese descent News & Documentary Emmy Award winners American women memoirists 21st-century American women writers American media executives People from Fair Oaks, California American women journalists of Asian descent