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UCLA alumna’s detention sparks worries at alma mater

By Srbui Karapetian

June 21, 2009 11:45 p.m.

Earlier this month, UCLA alumna Laura Ling and fellow journalist Euna Lee were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor in a North Korean labor camp for illegal entry into North Korea.

Ling, 32, was working with Lee, 36, for Current TV, a cable television network co-founded by former Vice President Al Gore, at the time of her arrest on March 17 along the North Korean-Chinese border.

Ling’s detention raised concerns from the UCLA community, especially from professors in the communication studies department who were well acquainted with Ling throughout her undergraduate years at UCLA.

“I was surprised that Laura was being held, but it wasn’t surprising to me that she was out in the world doing important and meaningful work in the field of mass media,” said Michael Suman, a communication studies professor.

Marde Gregory, a senior lecturer of communication studies at UCLA who has been following the careers of both Ling and her sister Lisa since their college graduations, also said that she was shocked at Ling’s detainment.

“It surprised me that it was Laura (who was detained) because I knew she was in constant touch with her older sister, who had done a documentary on North Korea a few years ago, and Laura knew how dangerous it had been,” she said.

However, Gregory added that Ling embarked on any endeavor with a caring spirit, despite the danger.

Ling was born in Carmichael and studied at Del Campo High School before her admittance to UCLA. She declared the communication studies major during her second year, at which time she also underwent a selective application process for a position as a student analyst at the UCLA Center for Communication Policy, Suman said.

Established in 1993, the Center conducted research and organized seminars, courses and conferences on media policy issues until 2004, when it moved to the University of Southern California, Suman said.

The UCLA selection board assigned Ling and 15 to 20 other students to be media analysts for Suman, who directed research for the Center’s study on television violence.

Congress initiated the study, called the Violence Assessment Monitoring Project, in an effort to monitor the violence in prime time and in children’s programming on the four major broadcast networks ““ ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC ““ according to the Center’s Web site.

Suman recalls the dedication and thoroughness with which Ling worked throughout the two-year period she collected data for the Center.

“Laura was a great worker ““­­­ she was smart, thoughtful, responsible and trustworthy,” he said.

Ling also worked with Jeffrey Cole, former professor of communication studies and current director of the USC Annenberg School Center for the Digital Future. Cole said that Ling performed independent work with him, in contrast to the other student analysts who worked in groups.

“She was a student in a class of 500 in my Communication Studies 10 class. I don’t get to know many students, but she was an extraordinary student,” Cole said.

As part of her analysis, Ling studied countless television programs and submitted reports to Cole, who then published them.

At the end of the study, their work was released at a press conference with former President Bill Clinton.

“She has a first-rate intellect and is extraordinarily charming ““ all these things made her a great reporter and her charm made her a great on-air reporter,” Cole said.

After graduating from UCLA, Ling followed her reporter’s instinct and began working for Channel One News, a news program that her sister Lisa had reported for prior to her arrival, Gregory said.

In 2005, she joined Current TV as an on-air reporter. Her adventurous streak and dynamic and honest reporting can be seen in the many television reports she made for the network, Gregory said.

Her work spans diverse areas, including stories about U.S. inmates recently released from prison, Mexican drug cartels and the daily lifestyle of a native tribe in Brazil.

From a grassroots vigil held in Santa Monica to attempts made by David Neuman, president of programming for Current TV and the U.S. State Department, awareness has been raised about the journalists’ detainment and efforts to secure their release.

Both the State Department and the families of Ling and Lee have pleaded for their immediate release on humanitarian grounds.

Along with family and friends, Gregory said that she hopes that Ling and Lee will not be held in the labor prison for 12 years, let alone one year.

“Every day I turn on the radio or television set to find out if they are going to be released,” she said.

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Srbui Karapetian
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