Nervous? Who’s nervous?
Elizabeth Vargas had the jitters – in a good way – just hours before debuting with colleague Bob Woodruff Tuesday as the new faces of “ABC World News Tonight.”
Any anchor who denies being nervous “is either lying or needs to resign,” she says. “It’s an enormous responsibility. … We all should be on our toes, alert, ready. If that translates to “nervous, fine.”
Vargas, 43, and Woodruff, 44, have every reason to be jumpy. They’re replacing a legend: Peter Jennings, who died of lung cancer in August at age 67. He had anchored the newscast since 1983.
Both Vargas, also co-anchor of “20/20,” and Woodruff, formerly “WNT’s” weekend anchor, had subbed frequently for Jennings since he announced his condition April 5.
“To a great extent, we’ve been in the trenches for nine months,” she says. “It’s not like a brand-new, never-before test run of a vehicle.” (Just for fun, what’s the vehicle? “A Rolls-Royce.”)
Vargas and Woodruff will rarely appear on set together, freeing them to do stories from the field. Tuesday night, Woodruff reported from Iran, with Vargas in New York.
Earlier in the day, Vargas and Woodruff launched ABC’s new Webcast, “World News Now.” It’s streamed live from 3 to 3:15 p.m. EST, with original content, on wnt.abcnews.com.
“Now” marks the first time an evening newscast has produced a unique program for the Net, ABC says.
“Now” came off without a hitch, says executive producer Jon Banner. Woodruff did a taped piece and live phone interview.
“I loved it,” Vargas says. “It was less formal than “WNT.’ I get to roll up my sleeves and ask reporters a lot of questions that we rarely have time for on the broadcast.”
Meanwhile, Woodruff, formerly a household name only in his own household, experienced his first brush with celebrity in Tehran last week.
“There was a front-page article in the Tehran News that ABC would be reporting from here,” he says from Iran’s capital. “I’ve never been on the front page of a newspaper before.”
After almost a decade at ABC, Woodruff says his sudden fame “is a little uncomfortable. I also understand that it comes with the territory.”
It doesn’t bother him that most Americans couldn’t pick him out of a lineup, he insists.
“Personally, I don’t think this job is about how well known you are. That’s something that just happens. Whether you’re well received is another story.”
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