Lisa Ling shares lessons from reporting around the world during MSU lecture

Contact: James Carskadon

STARKVILLE, Miss.—Award-winning journalist Lisa Ling shared lessons from her decades of reporting around the world during Monday’s [Feb. 26] Global Lecture Series at Mississippi State University.

During the event, sponsored by the MSU Student Association, Ling told stories from her distinguished career as a journalist and encouraged students to broaden their understanding of different cultures.

“The more we know about each other, the better we become,” Ling said.

Ling is currently the executive producer and host of CNN’s “This is Life.” Since covering the civil war in Afghanistan at age 21, Ling has reported news from dozens of countries around the world and the United States, covering issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder in returning veterans of war, poverty, and prescription pill addiction. She has gone undercover to investigate North Korea and under-age human trafficking, among other topics.

During Monday’s lecture, Ling told the story of going under cover as part of a medical team to explore North Korea. Her team spent the entire time in North Korea under the watchful eye of several government escorts, but Ling was still able to connect with residents of the country and the doctors on her team provided much-needed medical care.

“North Korea was always the place I wanted to explore the most because the least was known about it,” Ling said.

While Ling’s 2007 trip to North Korea was an eye-opening experience, her reporting on the country complicated the situation when her sister, Laura, was kidnapped near the North Korean border in 2009. Laura was eventually returned safe and the two sisters chronicled the experience in a 2011 book titled “Somewhere Inside: One Sister's Captivity in North Korea and the Other's Fight to Bring Her Home” (HarperCollins). Lisa said Monday she is frequently asked how her sister is doing, and the answer is always “very well.”

In addition to discussing her experience in North Korea, Ling discussed covering civil war in Afghanistan, mass incarceration, sex trafficking and other issues. She said her global travels have allowed her to see issues from different perspectives and given her more career opportunities.

“Every story I report on becomes the most important story to me at that time,” Ling said.

Before producing and hosting “This is Life,” Ling spent five seasons as the executive producer and host of “Our America” on the Oprah Winfrey Network. She previously was a correspondent for the “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” ABC News’ “Nightline,” and “National Geographic Explorer.” During Ling’s time as co-host of “The View” on ABC, the show won its first daytime Emmy award.

Before speaking to the larger audience, Ling met with a smaller group of MSU students.

MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.