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Dark days at ABC News — again
Recently named co-anchor Bob Woodruff, as I’m sure you heard on all the broadcast and cable newscasts yesterday, was seriously injured on assignment in Iraq. He and cameraman Doug Vogt were involved in a roadside bombing.
Details emerging today indicate that Woodruff, who is hospitalized in Germany, is in much worse condition than Vogt. Both men suffered head injuries, but Woodruff also suffered broken bones and apparently has not regained consciousness. Nevertheless, the network is expressing optimism.
“The families and our colleagues have met with the doctors who have examined Bob and Doug,” said ABC News president David Westin in a statement this morning. “Both have shown some signs of improvement. As we have known, Doug is in somewhat better condition than Bob.”
Updates will be posted periodically on ABC’s Web site, and viewers can post get-well messages there, too.
Woodruff and Vogt had recently returned to Iraq, where they were embedded with the 4th Infantry Division traveling with an Iraqi Army unit.
ABC News had recently promoted Woodruff and Elizabeth Vargas as co-anchors of “World News Tonight” following the death last year of longtime anchor Peter Jennings.
Woodruff, 44, came to TV news after a successful career as a corporate lawyer. He was teaching law in Beijing in 1989 when CBS recruited him to help with coverage of the student uprisings in Tiananmen Square.
Dismissed in some quarters for his GQ looks, Woodruff joined ABC News a decade ago and quickly earned a reputation for hard work and solid reporting. We hope this is a temporary setback.
Promising if it really happens …
Aaron Sorkin and University of Texas grad Thomas Schlamme, who conspired on “The West Wing” before departing in 2003, are teaming up again for a new NBC series about life behind the scenes of a sketch comedy show that sounds a lot like “Saturday Night Live.”
The still untitled series will star former “Friends” cast member Matthew Perry, Steven Weber (“Wings”) and comedian D.L. Hughley (ABC’s autobiographical sitcom “The Hughleys”).
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