Lisa Ling has been on an upward trajectory since shooting out of Del Campo High School with a passion for journalism.
A former co-host of ABC's "The View," Lisa's report on homelessness for "The Oprah Winfrey Show" focused national attention on a tent city near the American River last spring. It figured. Since leaving Carmichael, Lisa became a journalist and celebrity gliding easily between both worlds.
Now she is a part of a story of her lifetime, but not of her choosing. Instead of Lisa controlling the story, it controls her.
Lisa's younger sister Laura, also a journalist, has been imprisoned by North Korea since March 17. Laura Ling and Euna Lee were on assignment for San Francisco-based Current TV when they were detained by North Korean authorities on the Chinese-North Korean border.
On June 8, Ling, 32, and Lee, 36, were convicted of a "grave crime" and sentenced to 12 years in a labor camp.
"It's devastating," said Lisa Ling in a telephone interview Tuesday – her first with local media. "With each passing day, it becomes harder and harder."
Always a resourceful reporter, Lisa is left to speculate on the story that matters most. "We're past three months, over 110 days," said Lisa, 35. "We're continuing our plea to release them on humanitarian grounds. But our countries don't have a diplomatic relationship. They can't just pick up the phone and call each other."
Lisa has spoken only twice to Laura by phone. The last call, June 25, lasted a few minutes.
"What's haunted me is that Laura told me she won't survive if she is sent to a labor camp," Lisa said. "Euna has lost 15 pounds she couldn't afford to lose. Laura has an ulcer she believes has gotten worse. She told us that she has a lump in her abdomen that we are very worried about."
In brief conversations with their parents, Laura was stoic, Lisa said. "But with me she sounded so scared, so desperate and emotional," Lisa said. "I asked her: 'Where are you and have you been moved?' She answered: 'The conditions here are decent.' "
The nightmare has no end in sight. At 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Lisa will lead a vigil for her sister and Lee on the west steps of the state Capitol. Today, the Ling and Lee families launch on the Web: lauraandeuna.com.
Hope is all they have.
Lisa knows this story has international implications beyond Laura's fate. She's read the uninformed musings of bloggers blaming the captured journalists for being careless. She noted Tuesday how the media focused the energy of the sun on Michael Jackson's memorial while the dangerous and noble work of some journalists is practiced in darkness.
As subject rather than interviewer, she acutely understands the difference. "My mom has been an absolute disaster," she said. "And it's been so hard when your father, the patriarch of your family, calls you in tears."
As for North Korea, she said: "The silence is deafening."
Call The Bee's Marcos Breton, (916) 321-1096.
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "report abuse" button below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.