ABC's Woodruff & Vogt Injured in Iraq
 

Earlier today, ABC news anchor Bob Woodruff and his cameraman, Doug Vogt, were seriously injured when an explosive device rocked the Iraqi Army vehicle in which they were riding. They both suffered head injuries and Woodruff had broken bones. After surgery, they were both said to be stable and would soon be airlifted to Germany.

The AP wire service just started carrying this story, a few minutes ago. There appear to be no network news shows this evening, in my region at least, as a drug-prevention special is scheduled to be aired on all of them. Perhaps in other parts of the country, this is not the case. Local news programs will undoubtedly have full coverage of the incident, however. Best of luck to them and I'm sure all of us hope for their full recovery.

The most surprising thing about this story is that they were in an Iraqi army vehicle not in one provided by a private security company. For all the complaints there have been about the lack of armor for U.S. military transport vehicles early on the Iraqi army are very underquipped by comparison. From what I've read, foreign press have two options when they need to travel anywhere in Iraq: go in plain view but heavily protected or go deep undercover in nondescript cars, hiding their faces if they don't look local. Whenever I hear criticism of the press not getting the 'right' story in Iraq, all I have to do is point to the numbers of reporters, camera operators and their local staff who have been killed, kidnapped and injured trying to get the stories.

Doug Vogt, the cameraman, is a Canadian freelancer who has worked with the CBC as well as ABC. According to the CBC article they were both wearing helmets and armor.

Doug Vogt is originally from Lethbridge, Alberta, and he worked at CFRN TV,
the Edmonton CTV station for three or four years in the same department where I worked.

He's gone a long way since he left Edmonton, and I'd say it's a fair assumption
that Doug is now the most famous cameraman in the world. It's good to know
that he's quickly recovering from his injuries.

I wonder if we'll eventually see him on talk shows.