Youth Radio - Topic: Euna Lee

Ling & Lee: Hostages in the Hermit Kingdom

noah — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 12:22:10 -0500

When journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee were captured by North Korean forces on the border with China in March we had questions. What were they doing there? Why were they taken? Why was their employer, the viewer participation cable news pioneer Current TV, staying silent about the case? Even to the point of censoring viewer created content on the subject?

Last night Ling and Lee issued a written statement about their imprisonment and the events leading up to it, with a focus on the story they were there to pursue: the plight of North Korean defectors in China.

In their statement published on Current, the pair paint a dramatic picture of their capture:

Feeling nervous about where we were, we quickly turned back toward China. Midway across the ice, we heard yelling. We looked back and saw two North Korean soldiers with rifles running toward us. Instinctively, we ran.

We were firmly back inside China when the soldiers apprehended us. Producer Mitch Koss and our guide were both able to outrun the border guards. We were not. We tried with all our might to cling to bushes, ground, anything that would keep us on Chinese soil, but we were no match for the determined soldiers. They violently dragged us back across the ice to North Korea and marched us to a nearby army base, where we were detained. Over the next 140 days, we were moved to Pyongyang, isolated from one another, repeatedly interrogated and eventually put on trial and sentenced to 12 years of hard labor.

The answer to the most baffling of the questions raised at the time-- why was Current remaining silent-- comes in at an unexpected angle, and sheds light on the character of Ling and Lee:

AFTER WE WERE detained, the two of us made every effort to limit the repercussions of our arrest. In the early days of our confinement, before we were taken to Pyongyang, we were left for a very brief time with our belongings. With guards right outside the room, we furtively destroyed evidence in our possession by swallowing notes and damaging videotapes. During rigorous, daily interrogation sessions, we took care to protect our sources and interview subjects. We were also extremely careful not to reveal the names of our Chinese and Korean contacts, including Pastor Chun. People had put their lives at risk by sharing their stories, and we were determined to do everything in our power to safeguard them.

Our families and colleagues back home maintained total silence about our work for two full months, both to minimize the potential impact on sensitive underground work in China and to protect us. We were surprised to learn that Chun spoke with reporters publicly in the immediate aftermath of our arrest. Among other things, Chun claimed that he had warned us not to go to the river. In fact, he was well aware of our plans because he had been communicating with us throughout our time in China, and he never suggested we shouldn't go. Chun's public statements prompted members of our families to speak directly with him in Korean, pleading with him to refrain from any further comment that might jeopardize our situation and those of relief organizations working along the border.

In a media landscape where the news personality is considered more important than the news it's heartening to see two reporters who became the story seek to put the spotlight back on the work.

Previously:

Journalists Freed from North Korea

nross — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 20:30:49 -0500

According to time .com on March 29, 2009 two journalists Laura ling and Euna lee were doing a report when they were arrested and convicted of illegally entering North Korea. The two journalists wore sentenced to 12 years in prison after being charged with illegally entering a Korean military base. After 140 days in prison ex-president Clinton went to North Korea on Tuesday unannounced and CNS News reports that North Korea’s government specially requested that bill Clinton come and have a meeting with North Korean leader Kim jog. Bill Clinton told jog the journalists didn’t know they were crossing the border and it was an accident. Wednesday Clinton brought the two journalists safely home to Los Angeles.
North Korea should have handled this in a different manner because Laura and Euna didn’t know that they wore crossing the border. North Korea should have asked them what are they doing and why are they were the border.

Young Freelance Journalists Take Big Risks

noah — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 15:26:13 -0500

When Laura Ling and Euna Lee were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor in a North Korean prison camp we asked Josh Wolf- who holds the record in the U.S. for the longest stay in prison for a reporter protecting his source material- about why reporters take risks.

In the wake of the release of Ling and Lee, and the capture of journalist Shane Bauer by Iran, KQED-FM in San Francisco had writer and editor Andrew Lam on as a guest to talk about the subject. In that conversation Mr. Lam- who works for New American Media- talked about how young freelance journalists are putting themselves into dangerous situations without the same training and resources that reporters who work for the big news organizations have.

We followed up with Mr. Lam today on that topic, and on how the rise of citizen journalism is affecting the quality of information in the media today.

Why do young journalists take risks?

I think young journalists taking risks the same way that young people want adventures. The romantic notion of an intrepid reporter is still a very seductive notion even in an age of video games and internet. They want adventure. They are moved by injustices they perceive. They want to make a difference. I took a lot of risks myself when I started. Being of Vietnamese descent I nevertheless went to Cambodia in the early 90s and interviewed ex-Khmer Rouge fighters. I felt compelled to go after seeing the movie The Killing Fields. I learned a lot. But I nearly got shot one time in Batambang - a barrel of gun on forehead - and that taught me about taking risks. Personally, I don't think any story is worth dying for, but I didn't learn that from being at home. I learned that from being out there.

In your recent KQED interview you mentioned that freelancers and bureau reporters face the same challenges with totally different levels of resources. How much more prepared/equipped are bureau reporters compared to freelancers, and what will it mean for journalism as the foreign bureaus of the major news agencies are cut back?

A friend of mine working for AP was trained for what to do when taken hostage, what to do when under ambush, physical training with the military and so on, before she was sent to Iraq. And she was embedded. In other cases, those from a major news organizations come to a dangerous situation well prepared - with armored vehicle, interpreters and armed guards. They are given a certain level of protection. But we are in an era of receding foreign bureaus and major news organizations are under siege - there's no guarantee that newspapers will recover even when the economy does. What it means is that there'll be fewer protection for journalists out there. Have you seen CNN the last year or so? The i-reporters are taking over in a sense when a big story breaks. "Are you there?" CNN would ask. "send us your story?" Citizen can be reporters. Citizens are ENCOURAGED to be reporters. And many are stoked by it. They become active agents rather than receiver of news.

But they are not protected when they are overseas. They don't get the armored vehicles. They don't get the armed guards. They are far more vulnerable than the bureau chief of AP or Newsweek in Baghdad. If you get shot you don't have the resource to fly out by emergency airlift to a hospital in Germany for an emergency operation. You don't have major institutions standing behind you. You are not insured. You don't have all the right equipment like bullet proof jackets and helmets and so on.

The upside is that, as a young writer with ideals, you can do the story you want and ignore the story you don't want to do, because you're not under contract but selling your story piecemeal. You don't have to go through the traditional route like in the old day of internship and then years of a boring beat like city hall reporting before you get a juicy assignment. You can land in a city in chaos - and be the only reporter on the scene. It fits some temperament but it comes with an enormous amount of risks.

I think major news organizations will rely on these young, independent roamers more and more in the future as the foreign bureaus become a thing of the past. It's a way to supplement the wire stories - AP, AFP, UPI, etc - which are skeletal at best at a time when our engagement overseas are increasing with no end in sight. But the question remains: how much responsibility do news organizations have toward these young writers out there? Do they tell them: Think twice before you go. Take precaution before you go. Don't take unnecessary risks if you don't have to. Or do they say, go ahead, we'll pay for that story if you do go?

Personally, I think news organizations should ask themselves regarding what policies they have toward these stringers rather than just spurring them on for the sake of having more content. But that's my personal opinion.

As the major news agencies disintegrate we’re seeing the rise of citizen journalists. Do you think this is going to be a net gain or loss for the depth and breadth of reporting locally and abroad?

I already addressed the citizen journalist issue above. I think there's a lot to be gained when practically everyone is equipped - by having a cell phone you can record, take picture, send stories - to do basic reporting. The future is one where the reporter on the scene is inevitably someone who happens to be there when something happens. The victims can also be reporter. Think of the terrorism event in Bombay last November. Most of the stories that came out were from people in the Taj hotel texting while hiding from terrorists.

There was an amazing footage I saw in CNN when this student was running out of a building in Sichuan before it collapsed when the earthquake hit. He had his cellphone recording everything. When he got out the building collapsed. It got a few million hits in the first few days. But he's not going to be able to make sense of that story. He's not going to be an accountable reporter who gives the larger picture. That comes with experience, professionalism, and it comes later, when reporters show up with interviews of officials, and scientists, and many victims themselves. But the nature of journalism is changing and changing fast.

But accountability is still important. In India, when the radio station interviewed one politician who happily declared that "my friends are fine. They texted me. They are hiding in the ballroom upstairs on the Taj." No one seems to think twice about this: That the terrorists also have cell phones, have access to internet, radio, and tv. Who's accountable for this sort of thing?

And in Greece, last December, the twitterers who sent out message regarding the shooting of a youth suggested that he was killed in cold blood - shot point blank. The city erupted in flame. I was there. Everyone relied on those initial reports as fact. No one seemed to care what the policeman said: that he shot up and the bullet ricocheted. The coroner's report showed a few days later that the bullet was dented, meaning that it hit something hard, which goes in line with what the cop said. By then, of course, it was too late. Thousands of shops were looted and hundreds burned.

I think accountability, and verifying the facts are still the realm of serious journalism. I think content is one thing but providing Context still belongs to the realm of the professional, mature newsroom. Context belongs to the ombudsman, the writer who can provide context and big picture.

And you won't get that from anyone with just a cell phone and quick thumb.

Previously:

Also, Andrew Lam's Letter From Athens: Greek Tragedies & the News Media in the Age of Twitter is a MUST-READ for those interested in the future of journalism.

Lee and Ling Return (UPDATED WITH VIDEO)

noah — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 15:05:07 -0500

UPDATE II (Original Post Follows Updates)

Journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling returned to American soil today, touching down in Los Angeles where they were reunited with their families. In a press conference held at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank an emotional Ling read from a statement thanking former President Clinton and a host of others for securing her and Lee's release.

See Ling read her statement to the press.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

UPDATED (Original Post Follows Update):

Current Media have issued the following statement on the release of Laura Ling and Euna Lee:

LAURA LING AND EUNA LEE ARE COMING HOME

Current Media journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who have been detained in North Korea since March 17th, will be coming home on Wednesday morning with former President Bill Clinton, who is at this moment returning from North Korea having obtained their release.

We want to thank the Obama Administration for its continuous and determined efforts to achieve this outcome, and President Clinton for his willingness to undertake this mission.

All of us at Current are overjoyed at Laura and Euna’s safe return. Our hearts go out to them – and to their families – for persevering through this horrible experience.

We will have more to say in the days and weeks ahead. But for now, all our thoughts are with Laura and Euna and their families, who have shown remarkable courage and initiative for the 140 days of this ordeal.

Al Gore and Joel Hyatt

Co-Founders

Current Media

Current TV reporters Euna Lee and Laura Ling have been pardoned and ordered released by North Korean President Kim Jong Il after a surprise visit by former President Bill Clinton. Lee and Ling were taken captive by North Korean forces on March 17th and sentenced to 12 years of hard labor in June after crossing the North Korean border with China.

Details are just beginning to emerge in this dramatic conclusion to the months long diplomatic crisis.

The development comes on the heels of another journalist being held in Iran for crossing the unmarked border with Iraq during a hiking expedition.

All Our Laura Ling/Euna Lee Stories:

After North Korea: Why Reporters Take Risks (Video Interview with Josh Wolf)
North Korea: Current Stays Quiet On Reporters
Free Current's's Euna Lee and Laura Ling via Facebook

Vigil Planned for Jailed Journalists at SF City Hall

noah — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 19:03:56 -0500

Supporters of jailed journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee will gather tonight on the steps of San Francisco's City Hall at 6:30PM for a vigil and group photo.

The event's organizers report that mail has been getting through to the pair, whom North Korea recently sentenced to 12 years of hard labor. Those in attendance will be asked to write personal messages that will be sent to the two women along with the photo.

The planned vigil comes on the heels of Ling's sister, television personality Lisa Ling, reporting that her sister telephoned her on Tuesday.

Previously:

After North Korea: Why Reporters Take Risks

noah — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 13:06:17 -0500

This week we've been following the sentencing of Current TV reporters Euna Lee and Laura Ling by North Korea to 12 years of hard labor with intense interest.

As journalists, this story strikes close to home. On top of that, there's the curious silence of Current TV- whose only official reaction, so far, to both the capture and sentencing of their reporters has been "No Comment". On Tuesday we spoke with journalist Josh Wolf- who holds the record, at 226 days, for the longest prison stay by a reporter in the United States for protecting source materials- about his own investigation into why Current has been staying mum.

Josh's willingness to serve time, and Lee and Ling's very presence on North Korea's border to tell the story of human trafficking, speaks to the nature of reporters. Call it daring or just plain crazy: putting yourself at risk to tell a story isn't exactly "normal". So we went to visit Josh in San Francisco to talk to him about why reporters put themselves in dangerous situations.

If reporting and citizen journalism is your thing, you'll want to check out this interview with Karina Vargas: the citizen journalist whose footage of the Oscar Grant shooting played a key role in the development of that story.

North Korea: Current Stays Quiet On Reporters

denise — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 17:54:30 -0500

Current TV journalists, Euna Lee and Laura Ling were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor after being charged with crossing North Korea’s border illegally. The details about their crossing are unclear.

Being a journalist means reporting the facts and making sure the story makes it out to the people. But along with that duty comes obstacles. That’s what Josh Wolf, Staff Writer for the Daily Post and independent reporter faced. Wolf has been following the story of Current’s reporters very closely, and not just because it’s making headlines: Wolf served prison time for sticking to his principles as a reporter.

We conducted this interview about Current TV's curious silence with Wolf online today:

You’ve been working on the story of North Korea’s taking of Euna Lee and Laura Ling since the beginning. What makes you so passionate about the story?

I was sent to prison for 226 days after I refused to comply with a federal grand jury subpoena. That experience certainly increased my sensitivity to stories pertaining to jailed reporters, but beyond that I've had a long and somewhat contentious history with Current TV itself. As such, when I heard what happened, I wanted to find out whatever I could about the situation and learn why the story, which has since been covered by hundreds of media outlets, wasn't getting the attention it deserved.

What have you managed to learn about Current TV’s curious silence on the story?

Immediately after the story broke, Current reportedly posted something to their front page. That story, which I haven't had a chance to read, was taken down within hours and scrubbed from the Google cache. For months now, any attempts to post about reactions or insights regarding Laura Ling and Euna Lee's situation is immediately flagged and taken off the public site. Reporter's phone calls are not being returned, even to say 'no comment,' and when a friend of mine tried to film them at their SF studio, he was told to leave and was told they would call security otherwise.

The State Department has not asked that Current take down user's posts or refuse to comment about the situation, according to a department spokesman who said he didn't know this for sure. I have been told by an expert on North Korea that such an approach would make sense, however, as efforts to raise awareness about Japanese prisoners in North Korea only deteriorated efforts to free them.

How do you feel about Current’s silence?

I fully believe that the network is doing what they think is best to get their reporters home safely. I'm not sure that silence and censorship is the right approach, but even taking the quiet approach to handling the situation, I think there are much more responsible ways to deal with the sensitive situation than the company has demonstrated.

I know that if I was in a foreign prison, I would want people to raise attention to the situation and I would be very frustrated to learn that my own media organization had remained silent, and even gone so far as to cut off those voices in the community that took to this online forum to discuss how they are feeling about the news.

That said, I think it makes sense to do whatever is most likely to get Ling and Lee home as quickly as possible, but in refusing to cover a story about their own reporters they are not helping advance a free press, which is sad to see from a news organization.

Current TV is founded on the idea that anyone can submit media to their network, yet here they are in the middle of a big story and they’re preventing their users from reporting on it. What do you think this is going to do to their reputation?

I don't know anyone that holds the reputation of Current TV in high regards. The network has had difficulty rising above the fray since their launch and have alienated many members of their base on more than one occasion. It does leave me wondering about their responsibility as a news organization, as opposed to a simple media outlet.

Let's face it, if it was Anderson Cooper facing 12 years in a North Korean labor camp, we both know that CNN would be covering the hell out of the story. Now, whether that is a good thing or if doing so would imperil Cooper is an interesting question. And perhaps Current is making the right decision to help their reporters, but again there are more responsible ways for the network to avoid fanning the flames of controversy.

Editor's Note: as detailed in yesterday's report, Youth Radio's attempts to get a response from Current were met with a firm "No Comment".

Free Current's Euna Lee and Laura Ling via Facebook

denise — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:11:24 -0500

Current TV journalists, Euna Lee and Laura Ling were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor after being charged with crossing North Korea’s border illegally. The question people are wondering is what Current TV is doing to help free their reporters?

Finding an answer is not easy. Current TV is not willing to talk about this case. In a recent phone convesation with Current TV's press contact, I was quickly (and repeatedly) informed,“No comment on anything related to North Korea.”

Even though Current TV is not talking, people are making their voices heard on Twitter and Facebook. People have created a group on Facebook called “North Korea: Free Euna Lee and Laura Ling!” with links to a petition and blog site titled “Liberate Laura & Euna Now”. Interested citizens can also follow @liberatelaura on Twitter.

“Amber Jackson
Unbelievable, I have already contacted my congressman and Senator!! I hope that others will follow suit!! This is an outrage!!! My thoughts and prayers go out to them and their families! “

“John Yoon
Pissed off? Do something...
Contact your congress man/woman....
Contact your senator.... "

“Greogory R. Schiller
Its part of the political game"

“@bizweek:
By holding Ling-Lee, NK might believe it can force U.S. to think twice before putting them back on terrorism sponsors list.”

Social media site followers are not the only ones who are speaking out. Star Jones, attorney and former host of The View, wrote a letter to President Obama asking him to consider diplomatic “back-channels” as a way to free them.

“I believe that now is the time for diplomacy to step in. Because of the oppressive regime, I know that the United States has no formal diplomatic relationship with North Korea...so the utilization of diplomatic "back channels" may be the only way to make headway in bringing these journalists home to their families.”

Even though the details about their crossing are unclear, their sentence is still unfair. Not even illegal immigrants who cross the border to the United States are punished that harshly. They would just be sent back to their country. How do you feel about North Korea's actions?