Monday, June 8, 2009: California-based Current TV reporters, Laura Ling (whom Saturday Night Magazine interviewed last Fall) and Euna Lee, were sentenced by the Central Court of North Korea to 12 years hard labor in prison for “grave crimes committed against the Korean Nation and for illegal border crossing.” Ling and Lee were covering the struggles of defectors living on the China-North Korean border when they were captured. Both were flown to the Chinese city of Yanji that is on the border of North Korea when the capture occurred. The reporters were urged not to leave Chinese soil, however they crossed the Tumen River to the North Korean side of the border. The details of their capture are not yet clear. Some say they were arrested by North Korean troops after their refusal to halt their filming, others say that they were pursued across the river and taken back to the Chinese side of the border and then taken into custody. The reporters were seized by North Korean troops on March 17, 2009 where they were then taken in for questioning and within a week were told they would be put on trial.

Since the United States does not have formal diplomatic relations with North Korea, Swedish Ambassador, Ian Kelley, is the representative for U.S. interests there. Kelley has been able to see the two journalists on three different occasions in which they were reported to be in “extreme fear” of the situation. The communistic nation is allowing very little information to be released at this time. The U.S. State Department is urging North Korea to grant the journalists immediate release based on the grounds of humanitarianism.

President Obama has expressed “deep concern” and the U.S. government has hopes that North Korea will accept visits from Al Gore, who is the founder of Current TV, and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, on a mission to get the journalists released. Richardson has been able to maintain contacts with the North Koreans from his time at the United Nations and has worked for the release of people in North Korea in the past.

Officials are worried that North Korea will try and use the capture of the journalists for types of “political blackmail” and signs are pointing to that becoming a reality.

At this time, Americans’ hopes and prayers are with Ling and Lee and the U.S. Government is trying every channel to get the journalists released.

Saturday Night Magazine’s thoughts are with Ling and Lee and the Current team.

Below is more about Current TV and our interview with reporter Laura Ling from November 2008.

 

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When former Vice President Al Gore launched the independent news network, Current TV, back in 2005, his dream was simple but ambitious: To revolutionize news broadcasting by taking the power away from the “talking heads” and placing it in the hands of viewers all over the world. Today, the basis of nearly all of Current’s lineup relies heavily on viewer created content; better known as “pods.” A pod is a roughly three to seven minute, documentary-form video clip that viewers may submit to a wide range of Current shows in hopes of broadcast. Current, in effect, looks to democratize the media by granting voices to the news sources themselves. Consequently, the network succeeds largely in uncovering untapped stories and issues that had not received proper airtime in the past. The network is also one of the first to utilizes a two screen format, placing just as large an emphasis on the network’s website as TV. As a result, Current is primarily a youth news network with content geared toward and generated by younger, more techno-savvy viewers.

We had a chance to visit the Current offices in Hollywood, CA to get a behind the scenes tour of the network and first-hand taste of the innovative content produced.


The Shows

Collective Journalism (CJ)
Collective Journalism is also known as Current’s “citizen journalism program” and encourages viewers to share the stories and issues happening around them in their communities. Typically, the pods and information gathered are in response to the Current team first identifying a story and then turning to viewers to act as journalists and provide fist-hand reporting, but contributors can sometimes point out an issue affecting young people that ought to be covered by the network.

“We put these assignments out there or the community suggests an assignment and we take that material and then we as journalists put that together into a story,” says Andrew Fitzgerald, head of Collective Journalism at Current. He adds that CJ has several hundred contributors from all over the world who submit everything from full pods to first-person video diaries and what is “collected” then are much like pieces of a puzzle that will ultimately form a full story about an issue young adults are facing. “Our goal is to offer as global a perspective as possible,” says Fitzgerald. However, because content comes from all over the world, Fitzgerald confesses that language barriers or footage that isn’t of the best quality can sometimes make the task a bit more challenging. “We have a number of current employees who speak multiple languages, but the language barrier does hinder us from time
to time,” he says.

Still there is really only one major standard for submissions to get airtime on the program. When going through footage, CJ team members must simply ask, “Is the submission compelling?“ Fitzgerald says that as long as a submission encompasses the essence of the story, it will be included regardless of language barriers or quality.

Perhaps one of the most gripping Collective Journalism broadcasts pertained to the shootings at Virginia Tech. Rather than sending news vans and seasoned reporters, CJ turned to the Virginia Tech students who provided video diaries that they recorded on their webcams where they spoke about their own personal experience. It was footage you were unlikely to find on any of the major news networks and yet, it was more informative than any previous coverage because it was straight from those affected.

Vanguard
Wednesday 10 p.m. EST/PST
Vanguard is one of Current’s more unique programs, ironically because its format is more commonplace. Vanguard is a weekly news special produced by an in-house team of journalists who travel the world offering in-depth reporting on global issues. The show sets itself apart from the rest, however, in its ability to stay on the pulse of breaking stories across the world by providing first-hand, on-location coverage.

“We are out covering the world in a way nobody else is and covering stories that we think are being missed specifically for our audience of young people,” says Vanguard Vice President Laura Ling. “Our mission is to stay out in front of events as opposed to chasing after them and to provide a fun, compelling source of untold stories for young people.”


Though Vanguard has a relatively small team of reporters, the group travels to far off, remote locations to offer viewers authentic news coverage on issues they are unaware of or a new angle on a widespread issue that has not been presented. “We want to grab people off their seats and make them feel like they are on these adventures,” says Ling. “It’s real journalism.”

An example might be a Vanguard special relating to Somalia. Rather than offering the typical news coverage pointing to Somalia as one of the world’s poorest countries, Vanguard instead covered a Somalian Islamic group thought to be a threat to the U.S. Since most of us don’t usually think of Somalia as a terrorist threat, the coverage proved to be uniquely informative and compelling, and the story is currently nominated for a news Emmy.

Since traveling to remote locals and covering terrorist groups might not be the safest form
of journalism, team members are asked do a risk assessment of their plans before granted approval on a story. Ling explains that one of the big questions the group has to consider is if the story is worth the risk. If it is, the Vanguard team does everything in its power to make sure the journalism is done in the safest manner possible, but there is always an element of risk.


In order to determine content, the team holds weekly brainstorming meetings and gathers pitches from members to get ideas for stories. What is most important in determining content is making sure the coverage is relevant but also totally original. “We are really trying to expand our areas of coverage to make sure a story says something about what’s going on that you haven’t heard,” says Ling. Starting October 22, viewers will be treated to a brand new season of this riveting series.

InfoMania
Thursday 10 p.m. EST/PST
Since it’s not all serious, substance-based journalism at Current, the network exercises its funny bone through its media-mocking news spoof show, InfoMania. Like The Soup and The Daily Show, InfoMania pokes fun at traditional news coverage on politics, pop culture and issue-based stories and offers its own witty and satirical take. “The show is a half hour summary of the good, the bad and everything you may have missed that week in the media,” says show host Conor Knighton. “We sort of chew it up and spit it out… back into your mouth.”


With a show primarily based on clips from an entire week’s worth of media coverage, InfoMania’s staff of roughly 18 people (which is on larger side for Current) must sift through tons and tons of TV footage, having to start fresh every week. The group then holds pitch meetings and takes the best story ideas to incorporate into the show. Each member of the young staff seems to to have different areas of expertise, according to Knighton, from C-SPAN to celebrity gossip. Occasionally, viewers will send in submissions and ideas regarding media coverage for points of discussion on the show. “No idea is a bad idea,” Knighton says. “We’re still a young enough show that we are ok with trying new things. We are still finding our audience and finding our voice, which has actually given us a lot of freedom. Current, as a whole, is very free.”

So how does InfoMania differ from similar shows like The Daily Show and The Soup? Knighton explains the show is more of a cross section. InfoMania is not as politics heavy as The Daily Show nor is it as focused on pop culture as The Soup. Instead, InfoMania, now a full 30-minute show as opposed to its former three-minute format, seeks to offer viewers “the best of both worlds.”

The Website

While the shows are of course a major pillar of the Current network, a large emphasis, perhaps more than any other news network, is placed on the network’s website since so much of the content relies on viewers getting involved in creating the content that airs on TV. “For most TV networks, the website is more a brochure for the network. At Current, from the very beginning we knew we wanted it to be as much a website as a TV network and to be partners in the whole adventure,” says Robin Sloan, Online Product Strategist for Current.

More focus was given to the website also because Current is largely geared toward the twentysomething demographic who, according to Sloan, “Spend just as much time online as they do watching TV.” The “two screens approach” is the concept that an average twenty-something will have a laptop in his or her lap while watching TV at the same time, soaking up as much media content at one time as possible.

The site compliments the network by telling you what is happening in the world, but instead of only providing pods, the site also provides links to anything and everything covered on Current that you might be interested in investigating further. Current.com has also added a unique element to the TV network by allowing viewer input to help dictate programming.

VC² is a network show that features only viewer created content by airing viewer-submitted pods about a variety of topics and themes. With the site, viewers not only have the opportunity to easily submit footage, but can also rank their favorite pods, which will then receive airtime on the TV network according to public interest. “It helps us figure out the good stuff and what we should be talking about on the air and on the site,” Sloan says. “It also helps us flag the bad stuff. Without the community pitching in, we wouldn’t be able to identify it all.”

The rise of social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook have also helped the Current site thrive since more and more users have become familiar with creating web content and the idea of online participation. Current.com, while similar to these sites, asks that site users go the extra mile and report on the community around them rather than just present themselves as a member. “Facebook, and sites like that, provide this amazing utility, but they don’t do anything to address news and what is happening in the world,” Sloan says.

While the site continues to grow and evolve as does the network, the main goal of current.com is to continue to come up with more ways for viewers to participate online, therefore furthering the Current mission of creating a news platform that everyone can contribute to.

The Future Of Current

“Current is all about reinventing news and information for a young adult audience,” says David Neuman, President of Programming, adding that the task has always been to move away from “old-fashioned” news broadcasting format by removing the “pretentious oracle authority” found in traditional news programming. “We’re the Facebook of television,” says Neuman.


Since first launching in the U.S., the network is now available in the U.K. and Italy and hopes to continue growing. “I would like to see us in 100 countries and as a top 10 network among young adults,” Neuman says.

Last year, the network received an Emmy for “Interactive Television Services” and is nominated for three more this year. As more and more young people continue to get involved offering stories and content not found on any other news network, the options seem limitless. “I would like us to be the next CNN for young adults where young adults can inform each other about what’s going on in the world,” says Neuman. “We think the time has come for the most authentic and truthful form of information.”

By Jillian Gordon
Photos by Bobby Quillard