Fourth Season of Vanguard to Feature Episode on Imprisoned Journalists

SAN FRANCISCO: The fourth season of Vanguard on Current TV, the channel co-founded by Al Gore, will include a special episode that features freed journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who were imprisoned in North Korea in 2009.

The investigative doc series kicks off May 19 at 10 p.m. with "Captive in North Korea," a 30-minute episode featuring Vanguard correspondent team Laura Ling and Euna Lee. The pair were on assignment in China for Current in 2009 and were captured by North Korean soldiers. They were held against their will for more than four months before being returned to the U.S. last August. The special features never-before-seen footage, letters, commentary and personal interviews with Ling, Lee and producer Mitch Koss, who managed to escape capture. Vanguard correspondents Adam Yamaguchi and Mariana Van Zeller help tell the story of the ordeal and how the group managed to communicate with their interned colleagues. The episode also features video of the Vanguard team reuniting at the first visit to Current following the journalists’ return to the U.S.

Further episodes include "Missionaries of Hate," which investigates the rising influence of American evangelical groups on anti-gay laws and attitudes in Uganda; "Rape on the Reservation," which exposes a Native American reservation with an unusually high incidence of rape; and "Soccer’s Lost Boys," a report on the increasing European demand for young West African soccer players that has spawned an underground industry of middlemen exploiting the dreams of young athletes.