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New York, 1:24 PM
Sun Dec 6
14 posts in the last 24 hours

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    Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×
    Image of Shadowlayer Shadowlayer
    11/13/09

    In reply to Al Gore's TV Network Firing 80 People Due to Wild Success
    That old fart asshole better not fire the guys from Supernews, thats the only show worth watching in that piece of shit network... #currenttv
     Reply
    Shadowlayer was starred Shadowlayer was unstarred
    Image of lionel-mandrake lionel-mandrake
    11/11/09

    In reply to Al Gore's TV Network Firing 80 People Due to Wild Success
    They're moving to LA, ultimately they'll be closing down all the SF production. #currenttv
     Reply
    lionel-mandrake was starred lionel-mandrake was unstarred
    Image of Martiniman Martiniman
    11/11/09

    In reply to Al Gore's TV Network Firing 80 People Due to Wild Success
    Ever the exaggerator, Gore is seen in the photo above describing his breadth of knowledge...or how he percieves his "short-form video package." #currenttv
     Reply
    DennyCrane promoted this comment Martiniman was starred Martiniman was unstarred
    Image of DennyCrane DennyCrane
    11/11/09

    @Martiniman: Now that is a highly inconvienent truth!

    *rimshot* #currenttv
     Reply
    DennyCrane was starred DennyCrane was unstarred
    Image of Unsolicited Advice Unsolicited Advice
    11/11/09

    In reply to Al Gore's TV Network Firing 80 People Due to Wild Success
    We're not losing money, these 80 people are just useless! #currenttv
     Reply
    Unsolicited Advice was starred Unsolicited Advice was unstarred
    Image of BearDownCBears BearDownCBears
    11/11/09

    In reply to Al Gore's TV Network Firing 80 People Due to Wild Success
    Think of all the greenhouse gasses those journalists won't emit by sobbing on the couch in a pile of Cheetos rather than running their dirty ol' laptop 40 hours a week. #currenttv
     Reply
    BearDownCBears was starred BearDownCBears was unstarred
    Image of lionel-mandrake lionel-mandrake
    10/13/09

    In reply to Its Staffers Rescued, Current TV Needs to Get Rid of Staffers
    A wholesale move to LA has been in the works for a while. The fact is this, the production talent pool for cheap cable production is pretty shallow in SF. Thus they've had to ship people in from LA and more far flung places to get skilled staff. A move to LA will bring their overall costs down considerably.
     Reply
    Kaila Hale-Stern approved this comment lionel-mandrake was starred lionel-mandrake was unstarred
    Image of JennaW JennaW
    10/12/09

    In reply to Its Staffers Rescued, Current TV Needs to Get Rid of Staffers
    As long as InfoMania and The Rotten Tomatoes Show are okay -- tell me they'll be okay!!!
     Reply
    JennaW was starred JennaW was unstarred
    Image of Drunken Economist Drunken Economist
    09/03/09

    In reply to Formerly Imprisoned, Laura Ling and Euna Lee Now Free to Tell Their Tale (Mostly)
    Just a few things to say about this:

    Laura Ling looks like she swallowed something bitter. Japanese plums?

    The VICE crew went to the PRNK one year before, *with* permission and NK handlers, and were almost jailed for taking movies there. Google 'The Vice Guide to North Korea' and watch.

    Oh, and even with permission and being guys they were scared shitless.

    It's not like Current & Vice don't talk. The girls knew *exactly* what they were up against.

    Where were the Chinese soldiers? On their side of no man's land. The 'girls' were still on Korean soil.

    What point of view? The Current clubkids were trying to one up the Vice clubkids, using the PRNK as a prop.

    Every time I see one of these clubkids go to a REALLY BAD SPOT in the world and then go 'Ima scared' into the camera I just roll my eyes.
     Reply
    Drunken Economist was starred Drunken Economist was unstarred
    Image of Paul.B.Dodd Paul.B.Dodd
    09/02/09

    In reply to Formerly Imprisoned, Laura Ling and Euna Lee Now Free to Tell Their Tale (Mostly)
    I wish some of you guys would step off your high and mighty soap boxes and try to see this from their point of view. Their action may be stupid or reckless, but the fact of the matter is the punishment outweighs the crime. Everyone here can claim you would never put yourself in that situation. Maybe you will, maybe you won't but you were not there and you didn't experience it.
    I also don't see the problem with Lisa Ling using every single person in her Rolodex to get her sister out of that crime syndicate of a country. It's her sister. Flesh and blood. You wouldn't have done the same? You would have had enough moral rage to declare that she did the crime and she shall do the time, and just leave her there to die?
    What about the Iranian-American female journalist that was jailed in Iran for vague reasons? She lived and worked in Iran knowing full well the Iranian government has a hard-on for journalists and media types, and will incarcerate them any chance they get. Isn't that sort of asking for it as well?
    When these ladies were still incarcerated in North Korea, the majority of the comments here were supportive of their release. All of a sudden now they're back on American soil, they have become ungrateful ingrates for trying to tell their stories? People begrudge them for trying to get a book deal or TV movie deal? Would you like to sit in solitary confinement in North Korea for a while with an uncertain future in exchange for possible book deal?
     Reply
    Paul.B.Dodd was starred Paul.B.Dodd was unstarred
    Image of Lulupasternak Lulupasternak
    09/02/09

    @Paul.B.Dodd: They were never in any danger of hard labor in North Korea.
     Reply
    The Lone Scout promoted this comment Lulupasternak was starred Lulupasternak was unstarred
    Image of The Lone Scout The Lone Scout
    09/02/09

    @Paul.B.Dodd: Indeed, there are male and female journalists who put themselves at risk while reporting, but the disapproving comments I have seen mostly address the perception of amateurism and privilege in the Ling-Lee affair, and amateurism and privilege are fair game in the Gawker world.

    As for the harshness of their solitary confinement, it has been reported by "Han Park, an American academic who was visiting North Korea at the time, [that] they were housed in a guest villa designed for foreign visitors outside the capital of Pyongyang. Professor Park said that Korean officials laughed at any suggestion that the women were receiving harsh treatment. ‘We are not Guantanamo,’ he was told."

    Again, it seems that Ling and Lee mishandled themselves, putting themselves, their handlers, and perhaps even the Korean underground railroad and its beneficiaries at risk.
     Reply
    Edited by The Lone Scout at 09/02/09 12:18 PM The Lone Scout was starred The Lone Scout was unstarred
    Image of Paul.B.Dodd Paul.B.Dodd
    09/02/09

    @The Lone Scout: Whether or not they were ever in danger of hard labor is really easy for neutral outsiders to conjecture at this point. Hindsight is 20/20. When you're actually in that situation, even sitting in a guest house, 5000 miles away from home, how many of us has the fortitude to say, fuck it I'm going to get out of here sooner or later? I'm just going to enjoy this guest house. They broke the law but where is some decency and empathy? Do they just dissipate into thin air the minute they returned home?
     Reply
    Paul.B.Dodd was starred Paul.B.Dodd was unstarred
    Image of The Lone Scout The Lone Scout
    09/02/09

    @Paul.B.Dodd: Certainly, I would not want to be in their position, even if they were accommodated most comfortably, as claimed by an American visitor, in an official guest residence and allowed to communicate with their families, unlike other victims of the PRNK.

    It will be interesting to see how the several arguments weaving through Gawker and Jezebel reconcile, if ever. (Man, I'm getting whiplash trying to keep up.) Were Ling and Lee dedicated journalists who took a calculated risk? Were they naive fameballs who stumbled into making themselves the story? Were they innocents manipulated into danger by their negligent bosses?

    I seem to be stuck on simply expecting Ling and Lee to accept the consequences of their judgment and actions, and even to accept that in all ways they got off much better than the true victims of the story they went (or went sent) to get: The citizens of North Korea.
     Reply
    The Lone Scout was starred The Lone Scout was unstarred
    Image of Experiment626 Experiment626
    09/02/09

    @The Lone Scout: It's possible their guide sold them out... even so, as @Paul.B.Dodd said, they broke the law. When you break the law, you get punished. And when you're dealing with a country as volatile as North Korea, you have to be extra careful not to break the law, particularly when it's unnecessarily.
     Reply
    The Lone Scout promoted this comment Experiment626 was starred Experiment626 was unstarred
    Image of The Lone Scout The Lone Scout
    09/02/09

    @Experiment626: Yes, possibly their guide literally sold them out, or chickened out, or merely came to his senses. Paul.B.Dodd did agree with me that they broke the law, but I can't muster the same level of sympathy that he does, because I agree with your point: Don't visit the frontier of authoritarian regimes unless you are prepared to bear the consequences.

    Here's another thing: I read that Euna Lee was born in South Korea and then moved to California as a university student. If that is true, how could she have grown up in the ROK and not known (and prepared better for) the dangers that she faced by merely being within sight of the PRNK border?

    Again, I don't know how the National Geographic's guys pulled this off without making themselves the story. Seriously, read their article and look at thier photos. Were they not in the midst of it all? I believe it had to be professionalism and good planning that accounted for their success (and lack of capture), not luck.
     Reply
    Edited by The Lone Scout at 09/02/09 2:38 PM The Lone Scout was starred The Lone Scout was unstarred
    Image of Drunken Economist Drunken Economist
    09/03/09

    @Paul.B.Dodd: I'm not going to fault older sis for doing what she did and how she did it. As an old Asia hand, I can tell you they did EXACTLY the right thing.

    But equating what the clubkids *did* and their current [no pun intended] attitude *now*, all that's going to do is piss off elements in the PRNK to think they were punked by the Americans. Again.

    They're coming off as ungrateful ingrates because they're not as 'really really really sorry that they did anything wrong' as they were before their release.

    There's nothing wrong with getting a book deal or a movie [that will never be seen in the PRNK].

    There *is* with going to the world press and saying 'Nuh-uh, we had backsies' (and that apology, you can shove it).

    Dear clubkids. The fearless leader has a TV. He probably gets current now. And now the fugitive crossing issue is up on his radar.
     Reply
    Drunken Economist was starred Drunken Economist was unstarred
    Image of The Lone Scout The Lone Scout
    09/02/09

    In reply to Formerly Imprisoned, Laura Ling and Euna Lee Now Free to Tell Their Tale (Mostly)
    Andrew, what's up with the new trend of narrowcasting at Gawker? I noticed separate postings for this topic (and, yesterday, SJP's filming of an SATC movie in Gotham) at the Gawker empire. I always thought it was more fun to get the Gawkers and Jezzies together in one big tent on subjects like this one.

    In the meantime, I am going to keep beating the drum for the journalists over at National Geographic who successfully covered this story in depth without getting captured or putting the underground railroad there at jeopardy.
     Reply
    Edited by The Lone Scout at 09/02/09 12:05 PM The Lone Scout was starred The Lone Scout was unstarred
    Image of ___ ___
    09/02/09

    In reply to Formerly Imprisoned, Laura Ling and Euna Lee Now Free to Tell Their Tale (Mostly)
    I'm calling bull on their description of events. The river in question clearly delineates the border between China and North Korea so they knew perfectly well they were crossing into North Korea and probably wanted film footage from North Korea to add some flair to their story.

    I'm only angry cause a lot of people helping North Koreans were compromised in the process and these women show no remorse.
     Reply
    The Lone Scout promoted this comment ___ was starred ___ was unstarred
    Image of Charax Charax
    09/02/09

    @Big Poppa: I'm with you there.
    Also,here's a protip: You can't call backsies by running back over the border once you've crossed it. Violating another country's border doesn't work like that.

    The tl;dr of this whole story is: Two stupid reporters do something stupid, don't want to admit it, beg for sympathy.
     Reply
    The Lone Scout promoted this comment Charax was starred Charax was unstarred
    Image of Lulupasternak Lulupasternak
    09/02/09

    @Big Poppa: Notice how their version ignores the execs at Current who agreed to the story? And Euna Lee's strong faith, coupled with her Korean language skills, is why she decided to venture out of the edit bay. This version didn't clear up much.
     Reply
    The Lone Scout promoted this comment Lulupasternak was starred Lulupasternak was unstarred
    Image of Drunken Economist Drunken Economist
    09/03/09

    @Lulupasternak: Too bad I can't give you a star. Very insightful.
     Reply
    Drunken Economist was starred Drunken Economist was unstarred
    Image of lolababy lolababy
    08/07/09

    In reply to Honorable Leader Kim Jong-Il Was Right All Along About U.S. Journo-Spies
    In the border guard's defense, the "incoming" lane for North Korean border traffic had probably been unused for so long that they might have gotten a little over excited, like guys at a car wash that is about to go out of business.
     Reply
    lolababy was starred lolababy was unstarred
    Image of snugbug snugbug
    08/07/09

    In reply to Honorable Leader Kim Jong-Il Was Right All Along About U.S. Journo-Spies
    KCNA? I miss the Warsaw Pact-era Commie megaphones, with monikers that rolled off the tongue quite pleasantly:
    USSR: TASS
    Yugoslavia: TANJUG
    Poland: PAP
    Romania: AGERPRES
     Reply
    snugbug was starred snugbug was unstarred
    Image of Lulupasternak Lulupasternak
    08/05/09

    In reply to It's Time for Current TV to Talk About What Happened to Their Captured Reporters
    What I especially like about this whole thing is that Current presents itself as the home of mavericks who aren't afraid to do the stories no one else will do. Except that the staffers were too afraid of their bosses to talk on the record about Ling and Lee.
    Cuz getting fired for speaking up would be a bummer.
     Reply
    minou promoted this comment Lulupasternak was starred Lulupasternak was unstarred
    Image of minou minou
    08/05/09

    @Lulupasternak: I didn't get the impression that being fired was really what they were worried about. As Ryan notes in the 2nd paragraph, they were following protocol meant to contribute the the safety of the reporters, their colleagues.
     Reply
    minou was starred minou was unstarred
    Image of Lulupasternak Lulupasternak
    08/06/09

    @minou: Get real. How would a comment from a colleague make things worse when you're facing 12 years in a labor camp? Current was covering it's collective butt.
     Reply
    Lulupasternak was starred Lulupasternak was unstarred
    Image of lionel-mandrake lionel-mandrake
    08/05/09

    In reply to It's Time for Current TV to Talk About What Happened to Their Captured Reporters
    I know several people that work, or have worked, at Current. This is the scuttlebutt, which you should take with a grain of salt.
    What I'm told is that Laura Ling has done a lot of these kinds of dangerous reporting stunts (Lisa Ling has also done her share of this). She is known around Current for taking uneccesary risks in her reportage. Euna Lee was enlisted, even though she was an editor with no field experience, because she speaks Korean. The general feeling among the troops at Current is that Laura took a chance that they wouldn't get caught and dragged Euna along with her.
    As I say, that's what I heard, take it as gossip, do with it what you will. What is definitely true is that everyone at Current is tremendously relieved that they're free now.
     Reply
    lionel-mandrake approved this comment lionel-mandrake was starred lionel-mandrake was unstarred
    Image of Lulupasternak Lulupasternak
    08/05/09

    @lionel-mandrake: And considering Lisa did a rather foolish hidden-camera doc. in North Korea (misrepresenting herself as part of a humanitarian eye surgeon's team), you know Laura was going to do the same thing. She's good at toe-touch journalism, looking at the camera and telling the kids how scary it is.
    I wonder if Euna Lee is going to sue the Current execs who signed off on this stunt.
     Reply
    lionel-mandrake promoted this comment Lulupasternak was starred Lulupasternak was unstarred
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