The book is called Life in the Wrong Lane because that’s where journalists live: in the one lane heading toward a catastrophe. Everyone who’s normal is in the other lane, any other lane, going the other way. They’re getting out.
Sam Donaldson, legendary ABC News correspondent, says:
“Greg Dobbs could always be counted on to get the story no matter how tough or dangerous the conditions…and now he lays out how he did it. It’s all here—the humor, heartache and zest for a good story as experienced by one of television’s premier news correspondents.”
Although Dobbs’s travels, first for ABC News and now for HDNet Television, have taken him to many troubled corners of the country and the world, Life in the Wrong Lane isn’t a travel guide about exotic places or a contemporary history of the events he covered.
Rather, it’s about all the funny, bizarre, scary, stupid, dangerous, distasteful, unwise, and unbelievable things that journalists experience just getting to the point of reporting a story, experiences that possibly are even more interesting than the stories being covered, but which never become part of the stories they finally report to their audiences.
ISBN 978-1440152764. Published August 2009 by iUniverse.
There’s never a shortage of arguments that people use to bash journalists: They’re in the tank for one political party or another, they can’t be objective, and they’re in the business to feed their egos. While in some cases those accusations may be true, Emmy Award winner Greg Dobbs tries to dispel such stereotypes in his new book.
In “Life in the Wrong Lane,” Dobbs reminds us that reporters tend to be the ones heading into danger when everyone else is getting out. He is an example of this, as evidenced in chapters detailing assignments that he had covering the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and pushing the buttons of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
But Dobbs isn’t touting his own journalistic excellence or painting a sobering portrait of the dangers of delivering the news. Throughout the book, Dobbs maintains a conversational tone that allows him to recall some of his most memorable moments on the job without taking himself too seriously.
“I didn’t want it to just be my personal journal,” said Dobbs, a reporter for ABC News for 23 years. “Some people put a lot on the line to bring them the news.”
Dobbs said he chose the anecdotes that he did because he wanted a blend of quirky and dark experiences that would give a full view of what reporters are called on to cover. And he wanted people to read it.
“The book has to be entertaining,” he said. “If it’s all grim, somebody’s going to say, ‘Well that was a downer.’”
Life in the Wrong Lane: Why Journalists Go in When Everyone Else Wants Out by Greg Dobbs is a vivid time-travel dispatch from the heyday of big-iron network TV news.
“Sadat has been shot. If you can get to Cairo, do it.”
Breathes there a real reporter who would not thrill to this flash, sent June 6, 1981 by ABC News to its forces across Europe? Got to ice that dinner date, honey. Here’s another chance to narrate history… and spend a fresh bucket of money.
In Life in the Wrong Lane, former ABC News correspondent Greg Dobbs speeds from London to Cairo within minutes of that terse directive, no doubt savoring the frisson of here-we-go adrenalin (I have no cash! No suitcase! Don’t know when or where I’ll sleep next! Let’s go, go, go!) that was once a basic fringe benefit of big-league TV news. Recounting stories in Egypt – or Libya, Belfast, Beirut, Gulf War I, pre-perestroika Moscow, you name it – Dobbs takes us inside the tense, addictive, free-spending, 24/7 subculture of global network news production as it used to be. In doing so he highlights its comparatively modest and curtailed state today.
Dobbs held down a gig at ABC News for 23 years, from the ‘70s to the ‘90s. He also worked domestically, but the great stories in Life in the Wrong Lane are datelined overseas. Reading this breezy, fascinating memoir – the title points out that as reporters cover catastrophes, they plunge down the wrong side of the road towards the action, past sane people clogging the escape routes – is like bellying up to the hotel bar after a filing deadline for a night of literal and figurative war stories, funny and sobering, from a man at the epicenter of the newsgathering business in its heyday. [click to continue…]
Whether climbing through barbed wire in the dark of night at Wounded Knee, trying to get a cab out of Kabul during the Soviet invasion, or interviewing Muammar Gaddafi in a Libyan corn field, Greg Dobbs is on the move…and is, as always, in the wrong lane.
Dobbs, a world-class journalist, has covered some of recent history’s most fascinating and disturbing events. His new book, ‘Life in the Wrong Lane,’ describes with exhilaration and riveting detail his role in some of these events. The book’s title is well chosen. For, as he says, “that’s where journalists live: in the one lane heading toward a catastrophe. Everyone who’s normal is in the other lane, any other lane, going the other way. They’re getting out.”
Dobbs has been in the wrong lane for some time. For twenty-three years, he worked at ABC News, first as producer, then for most of his career as a correspondent, including ten years overseas. He won two national Emmy Awards in the process, and is currently a correspondent for HDNet Television, reporting documentaries for the program “World Report.”
‘Life in the Wrong Lane’ takes the reader on an oft times wild ride through the very bowels of recent history. As Dobbs says, these stories are about “all the funny, bizarre, scary, stupid, dangerous, distasteful, unwise, and unbelievable things that journalists experience just getting to the point of reporting a story.”
Greg recently was interviewed for an hour with an internet talk radio site – WSRadio.com – about his career as a television network news correspondent and his new book, Life in the Wrong Lane.
The interview has been broken into separate subject areas:
Why journalists go in when everyone else wants out – click here.
Challenges of reporting in Iran, Afghanistan, and other hotspots overseas – click here.
Journalist and viewer biases in news reporting – click here.
Reflections on a noteworthy career in journalism – click here.
Would a sane person willingly head into a catastrophe? Maybe not, but a dedicated news correspondent will do just about anything to get the story.
“If you’ve ever wondered what happens right before the camera goes on or after it’s turned off, this is the book for you.” ~ Dan Rather
Greg Dobbs
In his new book “Life in the Wrong Lane,” Emmy award-winning veteran news correspondent Greg Dobbs reveals the funny, bizarre, scary, stupid, dangerous, distasteful, unwise and unbelievable things journalists experience just getting to the point of reporting a story.
Dobbs shares his incredible experiences as a journalist who has traveled through more than 80 nations in a career spanning over 40 years. Many of those experiences are even more interesting than the stories he was covering. They never became part of the stories reported to the audience … until now.
Although Dobbs’s travels – first for ABC News and currently for HDNet Television – have taken him to many troubled corners of the country and the world, Life in the Wrong Lane isn’t a travel guide about exotic places, nor a contemporary history of events he’s covered. Dobbs didn’t want to ‘re-report’ the stories he covered. Instead, he decided to write about what it takes to cover them.
Finally, news junkies will see what happens ‘behind the scenes.’ Life in the Wrong Lane takes you on adventures from Beirut to Belfast, Tripoli to Tehran, Kampala to Kabul, Moscow to Morocco, and Warsaw to Wounded Knee.
“This book is not an atlas of troubled places. Nor is it an encyclopedia of major events,” says Dobbs. “The events I got to cover are part of history, but the experiences are evergreen. And I got to every one of them by living life in the wrong lane.”
“Life In The Wrong Lane” – Why Journalists Go In When Everyone Else Wants Out – by Greg Dobbs (iUniverse Inc.) is a book that should be read by anyone over age 12.
It takes the reader behind the scenes and we become aware of what is really risked by news correspondents as they get the story that we will see on our evening news.
Dobbs’s recollections are both funny and scary, as he and his team were at risk for their lives more times than they could count.
Dobbs traveled through more than 80 nations during his career, which has spanned over 40 years — first for ABC News and currently for HDNet Television.
For the older reader, it brings back details of incidents you may have put to the back of your mind. Incidents such as Wounded Knee: “The Night I Surrendered To A Cow;” the execution of Gary Gilmore, a double murderer: “The Light And Bright Side Of An Execution;” to Poland under Russian rule: “A Fistful Of Zlotis.” Even Afghanistan: “Welcome To My Country But Not For Long,” when Dobbs covered the Soviet invasion of the country in 1979.
It will be like a fun history lesson for those too young to remember these incidents.
Life In The Wrong Lane reveals:
Amazing adventures “normal” people do everything to avoid.
What reporters endure to cover a story.
Is a story ever worth your life?
What it takes to report in a foreign country.
How reporting the news has changed over the past 40 or so years, or hasn’t.
The best, worst and craziest aspects of the job.
Can a news correspondent have a family and a successful career.
According to Dobbs: “This book is not an atlas of troubled places. Nor is it an encyclopedia of major events. The events I got to cover are part of history, but the experiences are evergreen. And I got to every one of them by living life in the wrong lane.”
Dobbs worked at ABC News for 23 years, starting in Chicago as an editor for ABC Radio’s Paul Harvey, then for ABC-TV as a producer.
In 1973 he became a correspondent and in 1977 he was assigned to ABC’s bureau in London and then in 1982 to Paris. In mid-1986 he went to ABC’s news bureau in Denver. In 1992, when asked to move to New York, he opted to retire from the network.
Dobbs has won two national Emmy awards. He hosted “Colorado State of Mind” for six years on Rocky Mountain PBS where he won a regional Emmy for “Best Interview/Discussion Program.” He has written opinion columns for The Denver Post and has reported and produced stories for National Geographic Television. He is currently a correspondent for HDNet Television, reporting documentaries for the program “World Report.”
The book sells for $13.95 and is available at iUniverse.com, BarnesandNoble.com and Amazon.com.
It would make a great Christmas gift for any news junkie on your list.
Nov. 3, 2009
By Joyce Laabs for 