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ABC News to ‘Tread Carefully’ Around Woodruff Topic

Published on February 01, 2006 | Email this article

Bob Woodruff, the new co-anchor of ABC’s World News Tonight who was seriously injured - along with cameraman Doug Vogt - in a roadside bomb blast in Iraq, is facing at the least months of convalescence, leaving ABC wondering what exactly will happen with the nightly news program. It will be the end of the week or later before ABC News publicly addresses the question, sources say, according to Reuters (via the Hollywood Reporter).

Network news analyst Andrew Tyndall said that ABC News will have to tread carefully around the topic for at least six months, until the subject becomes more clear. For now, they will have to act as though Woodruff was on sick leave, he said.

When ABC News pegged Woodruff and Elizabeth Vargas as “anchors of the future,” it launched a plan to remake the news, with one anchor to be traveling most of the time while the other anchored from the studio. The show planned to broadcast the first regular, live newscasts to the West Coast.

ABC News has launched a message board which invites users to stay with ABCNews.com as it follows the story and to share thoughts.

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