North Korea sentences 2 U.S. journalists to 12 years in jail

[frostfire]

Originally Posted by Pete

Well, a journalist could be like that Dutch chick who went to Taliban land to get their story on the killing of the 10 French troops. They kidnaped her and raped her. When she gets back who does she blame? Why the Dutch government of course.

Here is a link to the background of the Dutch Journalist story

http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/3946

Concurring to what others have said: you just can't fix stupid!
They did the right thing by not paying her ransom. Based on stoicism, one should care less but when her stupidity causes others misery and headache, it's plain frustrating.

The article sheds a positive side somehow, that even though the PC in the US is bad, it is not (yet) full blown logic-defying-mind-boggling madness that is in Holland. When folks like Geert Wilders are gone, it is scary to contemplate what that place will turn into.

This is the product of PC conditioning in America: http://www.amnation.com/vfr/archives/013106.html

[Red Finch]

Article speculating where they will be sent:

http://english.chosun.com/site/data/...061000915.html

...and excerpt from NY times article discussing the broader picture:
( http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/03/wo...orea.html?_r=1 )

“The journalists considerably weakened their government’s leverage against the North,” said Kim Tae-woo, a North Korea expert at the Korea Institute for Defense Analysis in Seoul.
All in all, Washington has few good options, experts said.

“North Korea has little to lose in this game,” said Kim Yong-hyun, a North Korea specialist at Dongguk University in Seoul. “It’s a repeating pattern: Once again, North Korea’s brinkmanship is working.”

[afire87]

Does anyone else find it interesting that the company the journalists work for is not pushing this story and promoting their release? I searched their website and nothing. Where is Gore when you need him now???

[Sigaba]

Originally Posted by afire87

Does anyone else find it interesting that the company the journalists work for is not pushing this story and promoting their release? I searched their website and nothing. Where is Gore when you need him now???

Afire--

A similar thought crossed my mind when I was doing research before putting up the OP.

A possibility that crossed my mind is that the bosses at Current TV may have been advised that public statements might work to the disadvantage of their reporters. So maybe they're sitting on their hands and biting their tongues and waiting for others to do their thing.

Then again, Vice President Gore has demonstrated the ability to make spectacularly odd choices.

ETA. Afire, your post occasioned additional research. You are not alone in your concerns.

Source is here.

Silence on North Korea Detainments Causes Concern Among Current TV Staff
By Brian Stelter

The detainment of two Current TV employees, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, have been shrouded in secrecy by the television channel.

The start-up cable channel, co-founded by Al Gore, the former vice president, has steadfastly refused to comment about Ms. Ling and Ms. Lee since the two journalists were detained in North Korea on March 17. On Monday the two journalists were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor.
Yonhap/Associated Press Euna Lee, top, and Laura Ling.

The dearth of information from Current has left some employees of the cable channel feeling deeply uncomfortable, according to two employees who requested anonymity because they were instructed to refrain from commenting about the situation.

At the cable channel, which programs a mix of news, short films, viral videos, and other segments for young viewers, Ms. Ling is the vice president of vanguard journalism, a department that conducts original reporting around the world. Ms. Lee is an editor with about a decade of film and TV experience. The North Korea story was Ms. Lee’s first overseas assignment in her four years at Current, according to one of the employees, who noted that she speaks Korean.

After the women were detained, initial news reports about it were swiftly removed from the channel’s Web site. The two women’s profiles were scrubbed of any reference to the detainments.

It is not unusual for news organizations to adopt a silent stance when their journalists are detained or otherwise endangered overseas. News outlets often choose not to comment as they work aggressively behind the scenes for the release of their employees. But the public nature of Ms. Ling and Ms. Lee’s detainments have put additional pressure on Current to comment about the case.

Mr. Gore, in particular, has endured criticism on blogs for not speaking more often. In an interview on CNN in mid-May, Mr. Gore said he had been “deeply involved” in the efforts to free the journalists “every single day.”

“I have talked extensively and at length on many, many, many occasions with the State Department, with other people who are helping around the world in other governments, and through private intermediaries,” Mr. Gore said. But in public, the channel continues to say no comment.

Similarly, the families of the two journalists kept quiet about the case until last week. At the end of May, Ms. Ling’s sister Lisa, also a journalist, communicated with supporters through a Facebook group and said that she was preparing to speak out for the first time.

“Our families have been very quiet because of the extreme sensitivity of the situation, but given the fact that our girls are in the midst of a global nuclear stand-off, we cannot wait any longer,” she wrote.

Lisa Ling and other members of the two women’s families appeared on NBC’s “Today” show, CNN’s “Larry King Live” and other programs last week. Vigils were held in several major American cities last Wednesday to rally support for the two journalists.

Ms. Ling asked the Facebook group members to “help us stand up for truth and two girls who just wanted to tell the world a story.”

[Sigaba]

Source is here.

A discussion of Roxana Saberi on this BB is located here.

Friday, June 19, 2009
Marney Rich Keenan: Home Life
'Backpack journalism' risky for young women

'No one can hurt your soul. You are not alone."

That's what Roxana Saberie, the U.S. journalist who was imprisoned for almost four months in Iran, said she would say to fellow reporters Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who were sentenced last week to 12 years of hard labor by a North Korean court.

It is a beautiful message, meant to instill courage during an anguished time in not only these two young women held captive, but their families and loved ones, and too, our country, as it walks the fine line of working for their release without sparking the minefield of North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

And while guts, passion, tenacity and perseverance are desirable traits, especially in journalism, there is such a thing as having too much ambition, especially as idealistic, competitive young women out to get to the best story and put their mark on the world.

Somebody above them, a mentor or more seasoned journalist, should have weighed the risks involved in being anywhere near the terribly volatile North Korean soil, and too, the lack of safeguards applied by their employer, Current TV.

Current TV is the cable/satellite station co-founded by Al Gore. Its "backpack" journalism method outfits reporters with portable, easy-to-use technology that allows movement through dangerous territory.

While nothing excuses the complete sham of the North Korean closed-door trial and the utterly cruel sentence, you can't help but wonder about the journalists' ill-conceived plan.

Miles Spicer of the Daily Kos, a Web site that covers politics and other current affairs, observed: "There seems to be trend recently involving young, highly educated female journalists getting in trouble in the world's most scandalous countries and political regimes.

"The boldness with which these young women dive into the world of investigative journalism is unprecedented. But is it because doing so is the only way for these young females to prove themselves in the world of 'real' journalism? Do they feel like they have taken on the extra risks to really prove themselves as tough, conscientious journalists?"

Saberie, the 32-year-old journalist released from Iran, grew up in Fargo, N.D. (her father was born in Iran, her mother in Japan) and had worked as a freelance journalist when arrested in Iran and given an eight-year jail sentence. Her parents were told she was arrested for buying alcohol; she was later charged with espionage for working without valid press credentials.

After much international pressure, Saberie was released into the arms of her parents a little over a month ago. But imagine if her release had been delayed. With the present chaos over presidential elections, one can only wonder what her fate might have been.

It is one is one thing for Richard Engel, NBC's Middle East bureau chief and a veteran war zone correspondent, to be dodging bullets in Iraq while taping news segments and quite another for fearless females reporting about the plight of North Korean women sold through human traffickers on the China/North Korea border.

The New York Times reported that Ling and Lee were detained on the North Korean side of the Tumen River, which is "shallow and narrow and is easily crossed in spots on foot or by swimming."

Laura Ling, 36, was said to be following in the footsteps of her more famous older sister, National Geographic contributor Lisa Ling.

In a Current TV promotional video, Laura Ling described her mission as a vice president of the channel's vanguard journalism unit as being dedicated to investigating the "big issues really affecting our world. "We're trying to push the envelope here," Laura Ling said on camera, "and stay out in front of events, rather than regurgitate news headlines."

Lee who is 32, was the film editor on the project. Raised in South Korea, the Los Angeles Times quoted a colleague who described her as "an unsung hero," saying that she went because she was the only person on the team who spoke Korean.

Lee's husband, Michael Saldate, and father of their 4-year-old daughter, Hannah, told CNN's Larry King he has not yet told his daughter the details of her mother's imprisonment. Holding back tears, he said: "She still thinks Mommy is at work."

[The Reaper]

Originally Posted by Sigaba

Source is here.

A discussion of Roxana Saberi on this BB is located here.

How long before bad behavior by the "journalists", and by the NKs, results in a payoff for the counterfeiting, drug dealing, weapons trading, kidnapping, human rights violating NKs, and a book deal for the "incarcerated"?

TR

[echoes]

Originally Posted by The Reaper

How long before bad behavior by the "journalists", and by the NKs, results in a payoff for the counterfeiting, drug dealing, weapons trading, kidnapping, human rights violating NKs, and a book deal for the "incarcerated"?

TR

Very well said Sir!!! Good Question!

Holly