I have been following the recovery of ABC newsman Bob Woodruff for months now. In January, the former “World News Tonight” anchor and his photographer Doug Vogt were standing in the hatch of an Iraqi mechanized vehicle, reporting on the war from the Iraqi troops’ perspective, when a roadside bomb exploded. While they were wearing body armor (which doctors say likely saved their lives), both men were seriously injured and have undergone a number of surgeries in the months following the attack.
Every few weeks ABC releases bits of information on Woodruff’s progress. Milestones like his release from the hospital, his first visit back to the television studios in New York, his success in outpatient rehabilitation, and most recently word that Woodruff would be contributing to a “Nightline” report on North Korea. Initially, I thought he would be appearing on camera, so I tuned in to “Nightline” last week and found that Woodruff’s first journalistic work since surviving the bomb blast was actually in the form of voice over work. He sounded great and the piece left me wondering how long it would be before we would be seeing him in front of the camera again.
I certainly don’t mean to diminish his recent work. In fact, I learned that Woodruff recorded the lines that accompanied his “Nightline” piece (a report he did last summer on a visit to North Korea—last week’s voiceover tied the discussion of North Korea’s closed society to its recent test firing of missiles) by telephone while vacationing with his family in upstate New York. Woodruff says he attributes much of his success in therapy to the love and support provided by his family, especially his wife and four children.
ABC has not said when Woodruff would be returning to work (full-time) at the network. He was co-anchor of “World News Tonight” for less than a month before the bombing. For now, Woodruff’s colleagues say they are simply overjoyed by what they have seen and heard. “We’re happy to hear his voice again on ABC News,” said “Nightline” anchor Cynthia McFadden. I couldn’t agree more.