|
The Women’s Media Center
announces that
Lisa
Ling and Laura Ling will receive
The Women's Media Center Sisterhood is Powerful Award
At The 2012 Women’s Media Awards
on November 13 in New York City
The Women’s Media Center announced this morning that The
2012 Women’s Media Awards will honor journalist Lisa
Ling,
Host of Our America With Lisa Ling on OWN:
Oprah Winfrey Network,
and her sister, journalist Laura Ling,
receiving The Women's Media Center Sisterhood is Powerful
Award.
It
was previously announced that Pat Mitchell, President
& CEO of The Paley Center for Media & Founding Co-Chair of
The Women's Media Center, will be presented with the WMC’s
First Lifetime Achievement Award , thereafter to be
named after her, and that Martha Nelson, Editorial
Director of Time Inc. will be presented with the
Going The Distance Award.
The honorees will be presented with their awards at The
2012 Women’s Media Awards on Tuesday, November 13,
2012 at Guastavino’s in New York City with all three
Women’s Media Center Co-Founders, Jane Fonda, Robin
Morgan & Gloria Steinem in attendance .
The Women’s Media Awards recognizes individuals who have
made outstanding contributions to advancing women’s and
girls’ visibility and power in media.
“I
am extremely honored to be recognized by The Women’s Media
Center” says Lisa Ling. “I am particularly honored to
receive joint recognition with my sister whose strength and
integrity are truly extraordinary.”
“My sister and I are both dedicated to bringing covering the
news and the people who are making a difference and that is
what drives and motivates us,” adds Laura Ling. “To
receive recognition from an organization that promotes and
celebrates women in the media is truly meaningful to me.”
“Laura
Ling was detained by North Korea for 140 days after
attempting to film a report on trafficking in women along
the border in China,” says Robin Morgan, Co-Founder of
The Women’s Media Center. “Laura had risked her life to
bring significant news about sexual slavery to the world.
Lisa Ling played a major role in marshaling the media to
bring attention to her sister’s plight and to help save her.
Together and separately, they displayed strength and
integrity.”
“ Laura
Ling and her colleague, Euna Lee, were in a hostile foreign
country and sentenced to 12 years in a labor prison for
illegal entry and ‘hostile acts,’ ” says Gloria Steinem,
Co-Founder of The Women’s Media Center. “Lisa worked
nationally and internationally to help free her sister and
Euna. Laura and Lisa are committed to pursuing the truth as
journalists. We salute the courage and mutual support that
brought them through, and makes them an inspiration to
journalists, to women and to sisterhood of every kind.”
“When I think
about Laura and Lisa Ling, the word that comes to mind is:
tenacity,” says Jane Fonda, Co-Founder of The Women’s
Media Center. “Two amazing, tenacious sisters whose
lives and stories are shining examples of truth and
perseverance.”
"Lisa Ling and Laura Ling are
extraordinarily courageous Asian America women journalists
who have consistently, bravely endeavored to report on the
real-life challenges that women face around the world, no
matter how difficult or dangerous it is to uncover the truth
of ALL women’s lives, whether involving mass rapes in the
Congo or trafficking of women in North Korea, even at great
personal sacrifice,” says Helen Zia, board member of the
Women’s Media Center. “They represent sisterhood in
action and the very best that journalists everywhere can
aspire to."
About Lisa
Ling:
Lisa Ling
is Host of Our America With Lisa Ling on OWN:
Oprah Winfrey Network. As the field correspondent for The
Oprah Winfrey Show and
contributor to ABC News' Nightline and
National Geographic's Explorer,
Lisa Ling has reported from dozens of countries, covering
stories about gang rape in the Congo, bride burning in India
and the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda, among other issues
that are too often ignored.
Lisa got her start in
journalism as a correspondent for Channel One News where
she covered the civil war in Afghanistan at 21 years of
age. She later went on to become a co-host of ABC Daytime's
hit show The View,
which won its first daytime Emmy during her time at the
show.
Lisa was a special
correspondent for CNN's Planet in Peril series
and is a contributing editor for USA Today's USA
Weekend magazine. She is
the co-author of Mother, Daughter, Sister, Bride:
Rituals of Womanhood and Somewhere
Inside: One Sister's Captivity in North Korea and the
Other's Fight to Bring Her Home,
which she penned with her sister, Laura. She also serves on
the Board of Directors for the California Museum.
About Laura Ling:
Journalist Laura Ling was born in Carmichael,
California. Ling went to Del Campo High School where she was
a writer for the school newspaper. She went on to become an
investigative journalist, and currently works for Current
TV.
In June 2009, Ling, along
with journalist Euna Lee, was convicted by the North Korean
government for illegal entry and committing "hostile acts"
against the country. Ling and Lee were each was sentenced to
12 years of hard labor for their alleged crimes. Ling stated
that she never intended to cross into North Korea. She also
revealed that she requires medical treatment for an ulcer
from which she regularly suffers.
Political experts believed
the actions were in response to the United States'
opposition of North Korea's recent efforts at nuclear
testing. On August 5, 2009, former president Bill Clinton
engaged in diplomatic talks with North Korea in an effort to
secure Ling and Lee's releases. He returned to the U.S. with
the two women later that day.
The 2012 Women’s Media Awards
are co-chaired by Loreen Arbus, Donna Deitch, Jodie
Evans, Jane Fonda, Carol Jenkins, Robin Morgan & Gloria
Steinem.
About The Women’s Media Center:
The Women's Media Center works to make women and girls
visible and powerful in the media through strategic programs
aimed at transforming the media landscape including media
training, media monitoring and activism, original media
content, media reports, media programs & initiatives.
The Women’s Media Center was founded in 2005 by Jane
Fonda,
Robin Morgan, and Gloria Steinem.
“The
Women’s Media Center exists to change the status of
women in media. Because 51 percent of our population is
women and only 3 percent of all clout positions in media are
held by women, the Women’s Media Center Awards were created
to honor champions for women who use their media platforms
to tell the stories, facts, and solutions crucial to all
viewers and to advance opportunities for women in media,”
says Julie Burton, President of the Women’s Media Center.
“Because media tells our stories and influences the role of
women in every part of society, we are proud to honor these
amazing women who set the standard for what media should
look like when it gives voice to the female half of the
country.”
To
buy tickets or for more information about The 2012 Women’s
Media Awards and the ongoing work of The Women’s Media
Center, go to:
http://www.womensmediacenter.com/
|