Interviewed by Leslie Lindsay
After I was an adolescent, everybody had an opinion about what I ought to do with my life. ‘Pediatrician. Mom. Architect. Journalist,’ they sang. Extra particularly, “A broadcast journalist!”
I went to nursing college. After I was simply out of nursing college, residing within the Midwest, I took a job at a behavioral analysis firm. It was there, on that horrific morning, whereas reviewing knowledge, when a aircraft—after which one other—crashed into the Twin Towers in New York Metropolis.
In the meantime, on the Japanese Seaboard, on the top of her profession, CNN anchor Carol Lin, and creator of When Information Breaks: A Memoir of Love and Warfare (Third Rail Press, December 2025), was the primary community journalist to interrupt the information of the 9/11 assaults. A month later, she discovered herself within the crosshairs of a Taliban sniper alongside Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan, a stark reminder of the sacrifices she made to reach a white-centric, male-dominated journalism profession.
Carol Lin’s conventional Chinese language mom warned her that reporting breaking information was ‘an adrenaline-fueled drug that may by no means love her again.’ However Lin continued. She was decided. She did what she wished—no, had—to do.
When devastating information broke her personal life aside, Lin was pressured to query a profession that demanded every thing—fast considering, last-minute journey, the precise ‘look,’ and a lot extra. Her marriage was challenged by infidelity, marked by most cancers. All of the sacrifices required to be a mom—and the daughter her mom required—took its toll.
Advised with fierce wit and candor, and cameos from Peter Jennings, Dan Reasonably, Joan Lunden, Charlie Gibson, Lesley Stahl, and Connie Chung, When Information Breaks, A Memoir of Love and Warfare is about loss and progress, forgiveness and hope, and is superbly and warmly written.
Please be part of me in dialog with Carol Lin.
Leslie Lindsay: Carol, thanks a lot for taking the time to talk with me about When Information Breaks. I at all times like to begin with the start. What prompted you to put in writing this story, now, twenty-five years after a number of the pivotal moments within the guide, 9/11, for one?
Carol Lin: I wished to finish the guide I began writing once I left CNN in 2008, however setting it apart has made it a lot richer, and albeit, a extra candid narrative about what it was like as a feminine journalist outlined by the gaze of others and the sophisticated love story that threads all through the memoir. Time passing allowed me to interrogate myself and see clearly how a lifetime of breaking the information virtually broke me. September 11, 2001 was a turning level for my profession, but in addition my marriage when my husband and I made a decision to have a baby. His most cancers prognosis once we had been six months pregnant was a grasp class in navigating what it meant to be a profession girl, spouse and soon-to-be mom.
Nonetheless, I additionally wrote When Information Breaks for my daughter, now age 22, and dealing with the identical choices that after formed my life, for higher or worse. You meet Chloe within the guide, as a child. I wished my daughter to know every thing about me, not simply the curated resume of the lady she is aware of as “Mother,” however the girl who made errors and located resilience within the hardest occasions. Chloe deserves to have the entire story about her dad and mom and see that imperfection can result in a lifetime of objective and which means.
L.L.: Your mom is a tertiary character in When Information Breaks, however a pivotal one. There’s a piece early on while you speak about her immigration to the U.S. when she was in school, “Shortly, you’re leaving tonight,” your grandmother instructed her. I actually turned linked to your mother. Can you’re taking us into that second, and inform us somewhat extra about how she formed the narrative?
C.L.: That is the scene the place the breaking information of my mother’s Chinese language homeland falling to the Communists sparked her perilous journey to america to marry my father, an older tutorial she had been promised to when she was solely sixteen. Now, 22 years outdated, standing at her backyard gate in southern China, she is saying goodbye to her mom, my grandmother, who presses a fragile bracelet of ten jade items into her fingers.
The story honors the Chinese language custom to reward jewellery to a bride, not for the sake of possessing one thing of worth, somewhat, to personal one thing she might promote for her safety if essential sometime. Regardless of how a lot my mom may cherish this jade, she should be ready to commerce it to outlive. Isn’t that the selection so many ladies face, the letting go of the issues we worth most? I selected the jade for the guide cowl for that reason. At first, my writer was not sure of the connection between jewellery and journalism, however that scene is the subliminal spine to my story; a lady’s love and loss, letting go, and doing what’s essential for the long run she couldn’t but think about. That is the arc of the memoir.
L.L.: A lot of your mom’s assimilation leaked into your profession. In a historically male-dominated profession, you had been considered one of few girls, however not solely that, you had been Asian American. This was typically a sticking level. Individuals mistook you for Connie Chung. Are you able to give us a behind-the-scenes second of navigating the chaotic newsroom as a lady (‘careworn vs delicate,’) the way you stood up for your self—since you did—and the place you suppose issues are for girls journalists now?
C.L.: To this present day, many people have Connie Chung to thank for pioneering our potentialities, however sure, for greater than a decade, even once I was a nationwide correspondent for ABC Information’ Good Morning America, individuals mistook me for Connie. To say my id, I needed to endure the appears to be like of disappointment, that I used to be not who that particular person wished me to be. To reply your query, it’s much like working in a male dominated, largely white, chaotic newsroom.
I write in When Information Breaks that I realized from my immigrant dad and mom to be good, that how others noticed us formed our future, so I started my skilled profession as a “good” woman however finally realized I needed to be steely to be taken critically. I succeeded to the diploma that once I was pregnant, producers joked that they feared for my baby. Whereas it was in good humor, it says quite a bit about how I, so completely different in my look, felt I needed to telegraph invincibility. The chapter with the undercover gun purchase in Pakistan is an instance of the dangers I took in my subject reporting to, sure, cowl the information, but in addition affirm I used to be to not be messed with. However once I wanted individuals probably the most after my husband’s most cancers prognosis, my vulnerability was what saved me as a neighborhood fashioned to assist me by means of widowhood and early motherhood.
Have issues modified for girls? Clearly not. A document variety of girls left the workforce in 2025, not as a result of calls for of caregiving or kids, however attributable to burnout. A lot is being written now about this, and there are penalties to our financial system and society when half the workforce finds work tradition untenable. I’m lucky that When Information Breaks is represented by a women-led, mission pushed writer, Third Rail Press devoted to sharing untold tales of ladies.
L.L.: Such as you, I fell somewhat bit in love with Will, your husband. He was charming and sensible and fiercely humorous. He taught you a large number concerning the trade. You all purchased a cute home, and Will even wrote a love letter to the sellers. One way or the other, I discover homes to be a sort of affection language. They require a lot upkeep, like a relationship. Are you able to inform us a bit about that home, the pressure it held?
C.L.: It was a 1948 ranch home, just some doorways from the sands of Manhattan Seashore, California and stands as a metaphor for the state of Will’s and my marriage on the time. The outdated wooden home windows and tough stucco was proof of its resilience by means of the a long time of salty erosion, however the view out the outdated home windows was breathtaking and stuffed with promise. For Will and me, the home, which we had simply bought, was his sanctuary after he was concerned in a intercourse scandal that threatened my profession. Oh sure, you should learn the guide.
What occurred begged the large query of why we love who we love, and when, if ever, is the precise time to let go. However like the home which was constructed with love by its earlier proprietor, and endured many a storm, Will and I had been meant to final, which was made potential by my new job at ABC Information that largely stored us aside. Whereas he remained at dwelling, I principally lived on airplanes and reported all around the nation. I questioned my memoir whether or not I cherished him extra on the airport curb than I would in a extra peculiar on a regular basis life. It’s a twist on the adage that absence makes the guts develop fonder and but, any therapist would warn that we would have liked to spend extra time collectively, not much less and the selection of advancing to community tv would have extra penalties in our relationship.
L.L.: I cherished reliving a number of the largest information tales of the previous forty years. It was unusually comforting to relive them within the pages of When Information Breaks versus after they had been truly occurring. The 1989 San Francisco earthquake, the homicide trial of O.J. Simpson, the mysterious homicide of Jon Benet Ramsay…however not 9/11. That was chilling. Any theories on why the sensation was close to consolation whereas gazing at these occasions from an extended lens?
C.L.: Fascinating remark! I’d say when information breaks, we lack context. We solely know what’s occurring, however we don’t know why. Time gives context, evaluation, public discourse and personal conversations. That’s the worth of historical past, which sadly our nation just isn’t in settlement about as I write this in 2026. With no widespread understanding of the six tenets of primary journalism. The Who, What, When, The place, Why and How, we discover ourselves at odds. Debate is wholesome however the propaganda of ‘different details’ just isn’t.
L.L.: Motherhood was at all times one thing within the sideview mirrors. You weren’t certain you wished to be a mother, however Will desperately wished kids. I believe many ladies really feel this manner. They need the thrilling profession, but fear they could ‘lose themselves.’ You found sudden freedoms of motherhood when Chloe was born. Are you able to speak about {that a} bit, please?
C.L.: I used to be not maternal. As talked about earlier, 9/11 was a turning level for many people to contemplate what’s most significant. By the point I returned from my put up 9/11 project alongside Afghanistan’s border, our nation was steeped in grief. This was the inflection level for Will and me. We felt urgency to create life after a profession that lined a lot dying. Nonetheless, as soon as pregnant, I discovered myself dropping management over the narrative of my profession, together with being denied an project to go to Northern Iraq to cowl the pending conflict. As soon as CNN found I used to be pregnant, I appeared much less certified for the work that introduced me a lot satisfaction.
I used to be not excited about CNN’s legal responsibility of sending a pregnant correspondent right into a warzone and even the newborn who was nonetheless amorphous to me. I had concluded Will can be the mum or dad, I’d simply maintain working. Sure, that’s the voice of a lady who is aware of nothing about having kids! After I found I used to be having a lady, she turned extra tangible. Nonetheless, months later, after Will died, I needed to study that love can certainly, develop from grief.
L.L.: Loss and grief issue into the story, too. And whereas I don’t need to reveal any spoilers, how may you say the loss has given you hope?
C.L.: Loss ended up giving me hope as a result of I, who had constructed a life primarily based on the transactional relationships of a journalism profession, was confronted by a devastating loss that lastly allowed me to obtain my child’s unconditional love. To seek out such magnificence within the midst of emotional smash was a revelation.
L.L.: Carol, it’s been an utmost pleasure to speak with you about Breaking Information. Is there something I ought to have requested however could have forgotten?
C.L.: Please know my gratitude in your questions, and my utmost respect for readers of When Information Breaks. It’s every thing to be a part of a vibrant writing neighborhood and listen to from readers, whether or not by means of direct messages, or on social media or written critiques on GoodReads, Amazon and elsewhere that readers see their very own careers, marriages, selections and hopeful outcomes mirrored in my guide. I couldn’t ask for extra. Thanks.
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