The journalist spoke to students Wednesday.
Published Sept. 18, 2009
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Journalist Lisa Ling speaks to a crowd of students Wednesday night in Jesse Auditorium. Ling spoke about her experiences as an international journalist, covering stories in global hotspots.
Lisa Ling is tired of old white guys telling her what to think.
Ling, who works as a National Geographic correspondent, spoke to a packed Jesse Auditorium on Wednesday about her experiences as an international journalist, the surprising number of Americans who are concerned with world events and the dangers of news shows that try to tell people what to think.
"The fact that these shows are called news programs is scary and dangerous," she said. "The tragedy is they are the ones that rate the highest."
Ling began her journalistic career as a reporter on Channel One News, a network that broadcasts to middle and high schools across the country. She then moved on to “The View,” co-hosting the talk show for about three years. Ling now works for National Geographic Explorer and recently became a special correspondent for the “Oprah Winfrey Show.”
In her speech, Ling stressed the danger of news programs that consist of nothing more than anchors essentially just arguing.
Ling said television network executives underestimate Americans' interest in international news. Americans want to know what is going on in the world, but this information is covered so infrequently in the news that they do not have the opportunity to become more knowledgeable about world events, she said.
As an example, Ling cited an episode she produced for the “Oprah Winfrey Show” about gang rape in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Ling said the previous highest-rated Oprah episode, which featured a prominent celebrity, had attracted about 8.2 million viewers. The story about the Congo easily broke that record, attracting about 9 million viewers and raising $2.5 million for the women of the Congo. She said the story rated so highly because Americans care about world affairs.
"For people who say that Americans don't care about what is happening in the world, that is a perfect example that they do," she said.
Graduate student Juanita Kwarteng, who attended the speech, said she agreed with Ling's statement that international news is essential.
"Lisa Ling understands the importance of being a global citizen," Kwarteng said.
Ling's speech was sponsored by a host of student groups, including Delta Gamma and the MSA/GPC Department of Student Activities.
Department of Student Activities Director Ben Hansen said the groups began planning the event in mid-June. Hansen said organizers gathered a list of available speakers from a reputable agent and then compared the speakers based on price, availability and the topic of their speech. The committee tries to avoid repeating topics from one year to the next.
Once they narrowed down the list based on those criteria, this year's committee focused on selecting a woman.
"For the past several years, the Delta Gamma speaker has been a male, and obviously, as a sorority, they were looking for a woman," Hansen said.
Sharon Schauwecker, a Delta Gamma alumna, said Ling was a good choice for the series.
"Her life experiences are fabulous," she said. "She has such a wonderful perspective on what's really important in the world. I love the way she kept talking about reporting the news so that it made people think, rather than just telling people what they should think."
Kwarteng, who is seeking a master's degree in counseling psychology, said Ling's speech motivated her to strengthen her focus on internationalization of higher education through study abroad and other programs.
"It made me more determined to go on my own personal crusade to internationalize America," she said.
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