(North Korean news agency KCNA announced Sunday evening —1:30 p.m. June 8 in Pyongyang— that American journalists Euna Lee, 36, and Laura Ling, 32, both of Los Angeles, have been convicted and sentenced to 12 years hard labor for the “grave crime” they committed against North Korea.)
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Veteran TV newswoman Lisa Ling led the families of Euna Lee and Laura Ling, two American journalists held in North Korea for border violations and “hostile acts” on a well-orchestrated, one-day media blitz of NBC, CNN and ABC June 1 and issued an emotional appeal for their release on humanitarian grounds. (Ms. Ling is the older sister of jailed Current TV managing editor Laura Ling.)
But there were subjects that were apparently off-limits to the interviewers that day—Matt Lauer (The Today Show), Larry King (Larry King Live) and Bob Woodruff (Nightline)—and despite his shaky credentials as a journalist only the suspender-ed septuagenarian dared to broach one of them: whether Lisa Ling herself had ever reported from North Korea under false pretenses. Here’s the elder Ling sister dancing around King’s question: Have you ever been in North Korea?
Not germane? In June 2006, Lisa Ling and Australian cameraman Brian Green, snuck into North Korea posing as members of a medical delegation headed by Nepalese eye surgeon Dr. Sanduk Ruit. Images captured using miniature hidden cameras were combined with U.S. State Dept. and Dept. of Defense-provided footage and the result was Undercover in North Korea for the National Geographic Channel’s Inside series which aired in April 2007. Below is an excerpt from that controversial project critics termed one-dimensional propaganda “offering very little breadth and even less depth of interesting or new information. Lisa Ling is clearly over her head in terms of trying to report on something as weighty as geopolitics. Her style is trite and ill-prepared, over dramatized.”
Missing from MSM coverage of this worsening international incident is the real skinny on mysterious Vanguard Journalism executive producer Mitchell Koss, the veteran newsman who witnessed the capture of Euna Lee and Laura Ling. Koss, a 53-year-old 56-year-old Glendale, Calif. resident, reportedly eluded North Korean border guards back on March 17. He was briefly held by Chinese authorities and then released. After returning to the United States, Koss has refused all requests for interviews and has dropped out of sight. What if anything has Koss told the families of the imprisoned journalists?
—babamoto
Lisa Ling Extols Facebook: Says Social Media Sparked Grassroots Movement to Free US Journalists Held by NKorea
June 2, 2009
Monday was a long day for network TV reporter Lisa Ling. It started before the sun came up in a New York hotel room. She checked her e-mail and then she “friended” a few people on her Facebook account. As the sun was rising over Manhattan, she led her parents, two worried husbands and a four-year-old little girl into the NBC studios to launch a worldwide media blitz seeking the release of two American journalists being held by North Korea—one of them her sister, Laura Ling, and the other, Euna Lee, the mother of that four-year-old.
- Follow Lisa Ling on Twitter
- Join the Laura Ling/Euna Lee Facebook Support Group
- Free Laura Ling and Euna Lee, sign the petition
First was a 7 a.m. slot on the Today show at 30 Rock. Then it was over to CNN on Columbus Circle for Larry King Live which airs at 6 p.m. on the East Coast. Finally, it was up Broadway to 66th for ABC’s Nightline at 11:35 p.m.
By the time she was waiting for the start of her Nightline segment last night with Bob Woodruff, Lisa Ling, the desperate big sister with the destinies of two families and the weight of the world on her shoulders, was ready to lose it emotionally. She’d been under hot TV studio lights, working the phone or battling New York traffic for 20 consecutive hours.
Then she lost it, tearing up as she talked about how virtual strangers had used Facebook to mount a nationwide support network for her sister and Euna Lee and how she finds solace in the kind words of Internet strangers.
“You know, it’s been amazing to us. Through Facebook—It’s been extraordinary—this whole grassroots movement has been born,” she said.
“I’ve been at home late at night feeling emotional, and I’ll post something so intensely personal on Facebook, and I don’t know who’s reading it, Ling told Nightline anchor Bob Woodruff.
“After I hit ‘update,’ I think to myself, ‘Why did I just post that for thousands of people I don’t know to see?’
“I think the reason is because there is no support group for this and for some reason when people I don’t even know send me a message that says ‘We support you.’ ‘We’re praying for you.’ ‘We’re behind you’—somehow there’s the strangest comfort in that.”
Here’s an excerpt of that Nightline segment:
- Follow Lisa Ling on Twitter
- Join the Laura Ling/Euna Lee Facebook Support Group
The Olympic Decathlon, the two-day, ten-event test of all-around athletic skill and human endurance, has produced some of the greatest icons of the American sports pantheon. Decathlon gold medalists Jim Thorpe, Bob Mathias, Rafer Johnson and Bruce Jenner were easily the biggest names to emerge from their respective Olympics. But comes along 28-year-old, Kaneohe, Hawaii-born Bryan Clay and the mainstream media seems a bit skeptical.
Beijing is Clay’s second Olympics. He won a silver in Athens as the event’s rising star. Following Athens, Bryan captured a World Track Championship gold in 2005 and was ranked as the No. 1 decathlete in the world by 2006. Last year, he forced out of the World Championships in Osaka with a foot injury. Earlier this year, 12 pounds lighter and injury-free, he stunned the track and field world with a remarkable 8,832-point performance in winning the U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, Ore.
Ten years ago, Clay was a troubled kid. The product of a broken home, Bryan is the son of Japanese American mother Michelle Ishimoto and an African American father, Greg Clay, who divorced when their son was in the fifth grade.
At the Athens Olympics, Bryan’s mother, stepfather and wife, Sarah, stayed away not wanting to be distractions. In Beijing, however, the Ishimoto clan will be in full force. Sharing the two-day event with Bryan at the “Bird’s Nest” will be his maternal grandparents—84-year-old Tsumoru and 82-year-old Kay Ishimoto—along with “a bunch more family and many friends” to root Bryan over the top.
About his Japanese heritage, Clay reveals, “Japanese culture and food were a huge part of my life growing up. My mother made sure I knew who I was and where I came from. Our house was always full of grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins. We ate ozoni [a traditional Japanese rice soup] on New Year’s Eve. My life was very Japanese.”
Earlier this month, Clay told NBC, “I think that if I am healthy, and if I am competing well and in shape, I don’t think there’s anybody out there that can beat me. I really don’t think so.
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UPDATE—As I key this in real time, it’s already Thursday, Aug. 21, 2:45 p.m. in Beijing, and Bryan Clay has won the 100 meters and long jump and placed second in the shot put. He leads Oleksiy Kasyanov of the Ukraine and American teammate Trey Hardee of Birmingham, Ala. Roman Sebrle of the Czech Republic, who edged out Clay for the gold in Athens is in 10th place in the early going. I plan to update here as results become available.
UPDATE 2—(Thursday, Aug. 21, 7:20 a.m. PST) With the first five events of the men’s decathlon completed, Hawaii-born Japanese American Bryan Clay held an 88-point lead over his closest rival, Andrei Krauchanka of Belarus. Clay, who attends Azusa-Pacific Univ. in Southern California, won a rain-drenched 100 meters in 10.44 seconds and followed with the top mark in the long jump with a leap of 25-6¼. Clay then recorded a lifetime best heave of 53-4½ in the shot put. He high jumped 6-6¼ (11th best), and finished day one of the grueling event after 10 p.m. Beijing time with a 48.92 in the 400 meters. Trey Hardee (USA) is holding on to third place 93 points behind Clay who is favored to the the gold. Day 2 of the decathlon begins at 9 a.m. Beijing time (today at 6:00 p.m. PST) and will include 110 meter hurdles. discus, pole vault, javelin and 1500 meters.
UPDATE 3—(Thursday, Aug. 21, 5:00 p.m. PST) Bryan Clay left the following comments on his blog a little after midnight after completing Day 1 of the decathlon in Beijing: “I had three very, very good events. Then I had one not so good event, a poor event, which was high jump. Then just an OK event in the 400, nothing special in the 400, but it was OK. I don’t know about scores. I really don’t pay attention to scores until we get to about the javelin, then I look to see what I need to do to stay in the position that I’m in. I’m coming out tomorrow just trying to compete against the conditions and the competitors. Hopefully, I’ll be the best one there and be at the top of the podium at the end of the day. I think every event in the decathlon is important. You can’t win the decathlon without having all ten events. Anytime you have a poor event, that’s going to set you back a bit, and every time you have a good event, that’s pull you ahead. I don’t think it was the rain. I think that I was a little fatigued. We started in the rain and mentally and physically, it takes a lot to get through that and I think I did it very well. That made me a little fatigued going into the high jum and the 400.”
UPDATE 4—(Thursday, Aug. 21, 7:00 p.m. PST) We’re live blogging the Olympic decathlon results as they come out of Beijing. U.S. decathlete Bryan Clay recorded the second fastest time of all four heats of the 110 meter hurdles Friday morning in Beijing to start day two of the decathlon. Yordani Garcia of Cuba had the fastest time with a 13.90 to Clay’s 13.93. Andres Raja of Estonia had the third lowest time at 14.06. Clay netted 984 points in the event and now has a leading total of 5505 points. We’re awaiting the start of the decathlon discus throw.
UPDATE 5—(Thursday, Aug. 21, 8:00 p.m. PST) Japanese American gold medal hopeful Bryan Clay has won the decathlon discus competition with a season’s best heave of 176 feet 10 inches and added 950 points for a leading total of 6455 with the pole vault, javelin and 1500 meters to follow in Beijing, where it is Friday morning.
UPDATE 6—(Friday, Aug. 22, 2:10 p.m., Beijing, China CST) The decathlon pole vault is underway in the “Bird’s Nest,” and American Bryan Clay has cleared a qualifying height of 4.80 meters on his first attempt and shares the lead with four other decathletes—Andrei Krauchanka, Belarus; Andre Niklaus, Germany; Alexander Pogorelov, Russia; Andres Raja, Estonia.
(Aug. 22, 2:24 p.m., Beijing) Belarus’ Krauchanka has cleared 4.90 meters. We’re blogging real time from Silver Lake 90026!
(Aug. 22, 2:27 p.m., Beijing) Bryan Clay regains the pole vault lead clearing 4.90 meters on his first attempt. Roman Barras is also over 4.90, a season’s best for the Frenchman.
(Aug. 22, 2:50 p.m., Beijing) Glendora, Calif.’s Bryan Clay has cleared a season’s best 5.0 meters in the decathlon pole vault and leads the event on the basis of fewer misses. Krauchanka, Pogorelov, Niklaus and Barras are also over the height.
(Aug. 22, 3:15 p.m., Beijing) Andre Niklaus of Germany has cleared 5.20 meters, a season’s best for him, to take the lead in the decathlon pole vault. Bryan Clay, US; Krauchanka, Estonia Belarus; Pogorelov tied for second in the event. Clay leads overall with 6455 points after seven events.
(Aug. 22, 3:35 p.m., Beijing) After missing 3x @ 5.10 meters Clay is out of the vault in 2nd place. He leads the decathlon with 7365 points and leads Krauchanka by 316. The final two events—javelin and 1500 meters—are scheduled for 7:00 and 10:20 p.m. Beijing time.
Asian Pacific American Media Coalition Grades Television Network Diversity Progress
October 31, 2007
Linkage:
THE FEED: Grading the Graders: Network TV Diversity Report Cards Get a Failing Grade From Me by Eric Deggans, St. Petersburgh Times
