“America’s Storyteller,” Bob Dotson is coming to NGU
Grace Myers, Managing Editor
Mark your calendars; retired NBC News and Today Show correspondent Bob Dotson will be coming to North Greenville University on March 1, 2022, at 7:30 p.m. in Hamlin Recital Hall. He will be presenting a lecture titled “Behind the Media Mirror: A Lifetime Search for Ordinary Americans Doing Extraordinary Things.”
Dotson, also known as “America’s Storyteller,” has spent his career searching for the stories of those who are “practically invisible, the ones who change our lives, but don’t take the time to tweet us about it.”
“Most of what we hear in the news these days reflects power and celebrity,” said Dotson. “It’s not that that’s good or bad, it’s just that there is a whole lot more to our story as a country, and as a people than what we see reflected day to day.”
He recalled one of his first stories as a young reporter where he found a bunch of old film in an attic of a fire station. Dotson found out that the film belonged to a cameraman for an Oklahoma newsreel company.
“In those days, the only thing he could sell to New York were women walking around in swimming suits and Native Americans with feathers,” said Dotson. “Of course, nobody of color ever got in his pictures, but what he did, is he shot that anyway just because he was a curious newsman.”
As a young reporter, Dotson couldn’t help but be intrigued by a man who spent forty years of his life doing stories that he knew wouldn’t sell. “I thought, well, wouldn’t it be interesting to go and do stories whenever I could about seemingly ordinary people who had done something extraordinary that maybe just changed our culture,” he said.
The story of that cameraman is just one of the many stories Dotson has collected throughout his career, and he will share many more anecdotes with those in attendance during his campus visit.
“Really, I’ll be talking about us,” he said. “You know, people like yourself or your grandmother, or your uncle down the street, or the guy you met in the backyard with an interesting story.”
However, Dotson is not just talking about the feel-good stories used to lighten up the end of a newscast. Instead, he’s talking about investigative reporting on “seemingly ordinary people that did something extraordinarily significant for our country and neighbors.”
While this event is being hosted by NGU’s School of Communication, it is open to other majors and members of the public. Additionally, Dotson noted everyone needs to know how to tell a good story.
“Say you are a geologist, or you’re somebody that wants to be an accountant,” he said. “Eventually, you are going to have to talk to somebody who’s not in your group and explain to them and intrigue them enough to give you the kind of leeway to go off and do what you’d like to do in life.”
To learn more about Dotson’s experiences and learn more about the unknown stories that have gotten us where we are, visit the NGU box office to pick up your free ticket(s) or call 864-977-7085 to reserve tickets and pick them up at the door the night of the lecture. Cultural event credit is available for current students.
Follow Bob Dotson on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn. You can also visit his website at https://myamericanstories.com.
*Featured Image: Photo Credit: Amanda Kinsey
