Lisa J. Ling (Chinese: ???; pinyin: Líng Zhìhuì) (born August 30, 1973) is an American journalist, best known for her role as a co-host of ABC's The View (from 1999–2002), host of National Geographic Explorer , reporter on Channel One News, and special correspondent for the Oprah Winfrey Show and CNN. She is the sister of Laura Ling, a journalist who was detained and released in 2009 by North Korea.

LISA LING TICKETS The Wizard of Oz - Immersive Film Experience Beauty and the Beast Tickets Ringling Bros. And Barnum & Bailey Circus Rupaul's Drag Race Tickets Penn & Teller Tickets Dude Perfect Tickets

Career

Ling started in television when she was chosen as one of the four hosts of Scratch , a nationally-syndicated teen magazine show based in Sacramento. At 18, she joined Channel One News as one of their youngest reporters and anchors. Among her roles was war correspondent, including assignments in Iraq and Afghanistan. She has won several awards for her reporting and documentaries. ^[1] She attended the University of Southern California. Lisa Ling is fluent in Spanish.

The View

Ling joined The View on August 2, 1999, and left the show after three and a half years towards the end of 2002 to go back to international reporting. She was responsible for proposing segments like investing for women, and, according to Ling, her goal was to say one thing each day that would make people think, whether it made them cheer or made them throw things at their TV. She drew both fire and praise for her comments after the September 11, 2001 attacks, in which she said, "What happened to the United States was a catastrophic event and the worst terrorist attack in human history. Yet maybe before we seek revenge, we should ask the question – why should anyone want to make such an attack on the U.S.?" ^[2]

National Geographic Ultimate Explorer

Ling accepted an offer to host National Geographic Ultimate Explorer. In 2005, the show moved to the National Geographic Channel and returned to its original name, National Geographic Explorer . Ling has covered the drug war in Colombia, investigated the notorious MS-13 gang, and explored the culture of U.S. prisons.

The Oprah Winfrey Show

Ling has become a special correspondent for The Oprah Winfrey Show which has featured many of Ling's investigative pieces, including a report on North Korea ^[3]. Ling's title is "Oprah Show Investigative Reporter." She also has reported on bride burning in India, gang rape in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda, child trafficking in Ghana, under cover investigation of Pennsylvanian puppy mills with Main Line Animal Rescue, the immediate aftermath of the hurricane in New Orleans, and the April 2007 Virginia Tech Massacre.

CNN

CNN's award winning documentary Planet in Peril featured Ling in the series' second installment, called "Battlelines". She was a correspondent that tracked excessive shark fishing in Costa Rica, elephant poaching in Chad, and gave people an inside look at the battle for the control over oil in Nigeria.

Future

On April 2, 2009, it was announced she will get a talk show on a future channel OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network, which will launch in 2010. ^[4]

Personal life and family

Ling was born in Sacramento, California to parents Doug and Mary Ling. ^[5] She graduated from Del Campo High School in Fair Oaks, California. In April 2001, she completed the Boston Marathon. ^[6] Ling once dated actor Rick Yune and, in late 2002, broke off her engagement to media entrepreneur Philip Levine, citing as a reason her constant traveling. ^[7] On January 3, 2007, she announced her engagement to Chicago-based radiation oncologist Paul Song, 41. ^[8] They married on May 26, 2007, in their hometown of Los Angeles. The wedding party included guests such as Connie Chung, one of Lisa's personal heroes, and actresses Kelly Hu and Diane Farr. ^[9] On June 7, 2009, she was awarded an honorary doctorate from National University, after giving the commencement speech there.

Her younger sister, Laura Ling, also a journalist, is managing editor of Vanguard at Current TV. In March 2009 Laura and her colleague Euna Lee were detained by North Korea for illegal entry into the country. They had been attempting to film refugees along the border with China. ^[10] In June, they were sentenced to 12 years in a labor prison for illegal entry into North Korea, and unspecified hostile acts. ^[11]

Lisa and other members of the jailed journalists' families have stated that "if at any point they committed a transgression, then our families are deeply, deeply sorry. We know the girls are sorry as well" ^[12] and asked for their release. ^[13] Lisa has also revealed that her sister requires medical treatment for an ulcer she is currently suffering from. ^[14]

North Korea released Laura and Euna on August 4, 2009 after a visit from former U.S. President Bill Clinton. ^[15]

References

1. Lisa Ling bio National Geographic Explorer on MSNBC
2. Lisa Ling on The View and Network News
3. Inside North Korea, Lisa Ling, ''National Geographic Explorer'', February 27, 2007
4. TV Week April 2, 2009 Oprah Winfrey Network, TLC Other Discovery Channels Roll Out Shows
5. Journalists arrive in U.S. following imprisonment
6. Lisa Ling: Host, National Geographic Ultimate Explorer
7. Lisa Ling Breaks Off Engagement
8. Title Unavailable
9. Lisa Ling Marries Her 'Doctor McDreamy'
10. Lisa Ling's Sister Arrested in North Korea
11. North Korea jails US journalists
12. 2 U.S. Journalists on Trial in N. Korea
13. U.S. Protests N. Korea’s Treatment of Journalists
14. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/08/laura-ling-euna-lee-us-jo_n_212389.html
15. North Korea Pardons U.S. Journalists as Clinton meets Kim