A chat w/Lisa Ling...

I'm giving you an early look at my Daily News column running tomorrow.

ABC's "The View" never fails to conjure up its share of controversy - even among the women who are no longer on the show!

Most recently it was Barbara Walters blasting former co-host Rosie O'Donnell for having the nerve to say her one-time colleagues are not the best of pals off-screen. Before that, fired co-host Star Jones had harsh words for Walters because of what the veteran newswoman wrote in her best-selling memoir.

But one former lady of "the View" who has remained unscathed has been Lisa Ling, a co-host from 1999 to 2002. Unlike O'Donnell and Jones, Ling left the show on good terms and was eventually replaced by the controversial Elisabeth Hasslebeck.

Ling returned to her roots in television news and has been working on major stories for the past six years. Despite her work as a correspondent for "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and a contributor to National Geographic Channel and CNN, Ling is still always asked about "The View."

"Somehow, it's kind of inescapable," she told me a few days ago. "I'm always associated with 'The View' but I'm thrilled to be. They really were very influential in my career."

People were shocked when Ling gave up what is considered to be one of the best gigs on television but she has since shown that she really is a reporter at heart.

She's did a fascinating series of reports from inside North Korea where she posed as a doctor, covered the drug war in Columbia, reported on the culture if U.S. prisons, and covered the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the Virginia Tech Massacre.

Ling is also part of CNN's award-winning "Planet in Peril" series - the latest which airs Thursday - examining the conflict between growing populations and natural resources.

"I feel so lucky," she said. "Every day I wake up and I can't believe that I have the opportunity to tell these kinds of stories."

The 35-year-old journalist is used to all the world travel. She was still a teenager when she landed a job as a war correspondent for Channel One News that included assignments in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"I've been able to continue to travel and see the world and immerse myself in different kinds of stories," Ling said. "I just feel so blessed to be able to do so and hope that people respond to the work that I've been able to do."