Wounded Newsmen Show Slow Recovery

ABC Likely to Use Substitutes for Anchor

ABC News anchor Bob Woodruff and his cameraman showed "slow improvement" yesterday at a U.S. military hospital in Germany and remain in serious but stable condition after sustaining head injuries from a roadside bomb in Iraq, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Woodruff and Doug Vogt showed "early signs of reaction" in response to neurological tests at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, said hospital spokeswoman Marie Shaw. Col. Bryan Gamble, the hospital's commander, said both men would have been killed had they not been wearing body armor.

ABC executives, relieved by the modest progress, remain committed to the two-anchor format unveiled this month on "World News Tonight" and will likely name a number of substitutes to work with Elizabeth Vargas while Woodruff recovers.

"It's a body blow," said ABC News spokesman Jeffrey Schneider, noting the lung cancer death of longtime anchor Peter Jennings last summer. "When you think you've recovered from the tragic news about Peter, you have to deal with another incredibly difficult circumstance. What amazes me is the resilience of the people who work here."

On the "Today" show, former NBC anchor Tom Brokaw said he had spoken to Woodruff's wife, Lee, about the bomb that exploded while her husband and Vogt were standing in the back hatch of an Iraqi military vehicle to tape a report. The vehicle then came under hostile fire from three directions.

Immediately after the blast, Woodruff asked a colleague, "Am I alive?" and then said, "Don't tell Lee." Brokaw said Woodruff "began to cry out in excruciating pain" but was able to walk to a helicopter for medical evacuation.

Doctors were able to reduce Woodruff's brain swelling by removing part of his skullcap but "don't know for sure whether shrapnel penetrated the brain," Brokaw said. He said Woodruff had also suffered a broken collarbone and broken ribs. Both journalists are under heavy sedation, hospital officials said.

ABC correspondent Jim Sciutto said last night he had spoken with Vogt and that the cameraman was joking and in good spirits.

Lee Woodruff and Vogt's wife, Vivian, are now in Germany and were accompanied there by Melanie Bloom, the widow of NBC correspondent David Bloom, who died in Iraq in 2003. Woodruff left Iraq at the time to help comfort his friend's family.

In an interview on "Good Morning America," ABC News President David Westin said Woodruff has "always been the first to volunteer" for difficult assignments such as reporting from the Middle East.

"He knows the risks and knows them very, very well," Westin said. "It's been a dilemma we've struggled with all along. Frankly, we don't get to report as much as we'd like in Iraq because of the security. We have perhaps a false sense that when we're embedded with the U.S. military there's a greater sense of security. In fact, there's nowhere in Iraq that's safe. Bob knew that and understood that."

Vargas, on the same program, noted that she had been in Iraq last month -- embedded with a U.S. military unit for part of the time -- and traveled with the same production crew. "They are not only total pros, but they do not take undue risks," she said.