Bob Woodruff

File:Abc woodruff vargas 3.jpg

Bob Woodruff with fellow WNT co-anchor Elizabeth Vargas

Bob Woodruff (born 1961) is a television journalist. On January 3, 2006, Woodruff became co-anchor of World News Tonight with Elizabeth Vargas, replacing the late Peter Jennings. On January 29, 2006, Woodruff and a cameraman were injured in Iraq by a roadside bomb while on assignment; Woodruff is the first American news anchor to be hurt in a war zone.

Overview

Bob Woodruff grew up in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan where he graduated from the private Cranbrook Kingswood school in 1979. He earned a B.A. from Colgate University in 1983 and a law degree from the University of Michigan.

Before joining ABC, Woodruff was an attorney. In 1989, while teaching law in Beijing, he was hired by CBS News to work as a translator for Dan Rather during the Tiananmen Square uprising; a short time later he changed careers.

He went on to work at television stations in Redding, California, Richmond, Virginia, and Phoenix, Arizona before ABC hired him in Chicago, Illinois in 1996. [1]

As ABC's Justice Department correspondent in Washington in the late 1990s, Woodruff covered the office of Attorney General Janet Reno, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. In 1999, he reported from Belgrade and Kosovo during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. Since then, he has reported extensively on Europe and the Middle East.

His international reporting on the fallout from 9/11/01 was part of ABC's coverage which was recognized with the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award and the George Foster Peabody Award, two of the highest honors in broadcast journalism.

Woodruff served as the anchor of World News Tonight Saturday and as one of ABC's top correspondents contributing reports to Nightline and other ABC News broadcasts.

He has also reported extensively on the continuing unrest in Iraq. During the initial invasion Woodruff reported from the front lines as an embedded journalist with the First Marine Division, 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion.

Before moving to New York in 2002, Woodruff worked at the ABC News London Bureau.

Bob and his wife Lee have four children.

He is not related to fellow television journalist Judy Woodruff.

Injury in Iraq

On January 29, 2006, Woodruff and Canadian cameraman Doug Vogt were seriously injured in an explosion from an improvised explosive device (IED) near Taji, Iraq, about 12 miles north of Baghdad. Woodruff had traveled with an ABC News team to Israel to report on the aftermath of the 2006 Palestinian elections, and then via Amman to Baghdad, so he could meet with troops before the State of the Union Address by President Bush.

At the time of the attack, they were embedded with the U.S. 4th Infantry Division, travelling in an Iraqi armored personnel carrier. Woodruff and Vogt were standing with their heads above a hatch, apparently filming a stand-up. Both men were wearing body armor and protective helmets at the time. Woodruff sustained shrapnel wounds; Vogt was struck by shrapnel in the head and suffered a broken shoulder. Both men underwent surgery for head injuries at a U.S. military hospital in Balad and are recovering in stable condition. Tom Brokaw reported on the Today show that Woodruff had also undergone surgery to reduce brain swelling.

According to published reports, Woodruff and Vogt have been evacuated to the United States Army Medical Command hospital at Landstuhl, Germany overnight on Sunday, January 29. On ABC World News Tonight that evening, anchor Elizabeth Vargas talked about the dangers of reporting in a combat zone and wished Woodruff and Vogt well in recovery.

Woodruff is currently being treated at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland. Doctors are slowly bringing him out of induced coma and he is reported to have moved his arms and legs. Although a portion of his skull was removed, his friend and colleague Martha Raddatz reported that he is not believed to have suffered major disfigurement. As of February 4, 2006, Woodruff is being kept in a medically-induced coma to assist his recovery, and ABC News has temporarily assigned Good Morning America anchors Charlie Gibson and Diane Sawyer to alternate duties on the evening newscast as co-anchor with Vargas. Vogt is awake, mobile, and recovering.

As of February 16, 2006, ABCNews had issued a statement offering hopes for a full recovery and guarded optimism from doctors at Bethesda, but few medical details.

Notable coverage

• Senator John Edwards campaign for 2004 Democratic presidential nomination
• Death of Pope John Paul II
• Operation Iraqi Freedom
• Hurricane Katrina
• 2006 Palestinian elections

Ratings

ABC's "World News Tonight" is ranked second in the Nielsen Media Research rankings, and has been fading a bit lately to NBC's first-place "Nightly News," anchored by Brian Williams. CBS is still searching for its replacement for Dan Rather, who left in March 2005.

External links

• Vargas, Woodruff Named Co-Anchors of ABC's 'World News Tonight' ABC.com. December 5, 2005.
• Vargas, Woodruff to share anchor desk at ABC MSNBC. December 5, 2005.
• Official ABC biography

Preceded by Peter Jennings

ABC World News Tonight Anchor (with Elizabeth Vargas) January 3, 2006 -

Succeeded by Current