Ben Affleck goes to the Congo as a Nightline special correspondent

Now he’s taken a Nightline camera crew to The Congo with him to chronicle his personal journey meeting victims of the war and humanitarian crisis there. Affleck realizes that he looks like a tool as an actor traveling to the third world, but he’s willing to take the hits if it means a greater awareness of the vast need in the area for help. Affleck has been to The Congo three times this past year and this is the first I’ve heard of his charity work. His people asked Nightline to cover this story after seeing Don Cheadle visit nearby Rwanda, which borders the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the East. Cheadle went to Rwanda with Nightline in 2005 in an attempt to learn more about the people there after making the film Hotel Rwanda:

He’s been to the Congo three times in the past year. He said his motive was to learn about the war and hunger that have killed thousands of people per month in the past decade in hopes that the outside world would be moved to help, and his celebrity opened some doors.

“It’s fairly clear that in the modern age that there is a currency to celebrity, or celebrity is a currency, really,” Affleck told The Associated Press on Wednesday. “I’ve discovered that you can spend it in a lot of ways, or you can squander it. You can be taxed, as well. I really started thinking long and hard about how to use that currency as long as I had it.”

His representatives approached “Nightline” with the idea of reporting on his journey. Affleck said he was impressed by “Nightline” stories in 2005 where “Hotel Rwanda” actor Don Cheadle visited that country.

“Nightline” executive producer James Goldston admitted to skepticism. ABC News took heat a decade ago for letting Leonardo DiCaprio interview President Clinton, and the idea of a concerned celebrity taking on a world problem has become a news staple.

“I was quite persuaded by how candid he was about the cliche of it, or the potential cliche,” Goldston said.

Affleck deals with that issue in the opening of his essay: “I want to try to bring people along to learn and if they might not tune into this unless there was some celebrity involved in it, either because they’re interested in the celebrity or because they want to see the celebrity kind of make a fool of himself, then so be it,” he says.

He doesn’t act as a reporter, Goldston said. The idea was to present the story as a personal journey, following Affleck as he met with survivors of the conflict, relief officials and even some warlords.

“Nightline” hasn’t done its own story on the Congo since 2002, although Cynthia McFadden recently took a trip to Africa to report on several issues there.

Affleck said one “Nightline” piece isn’t likely to change much, but the goal is to spread the word and hope that people in the United States can identify with some people who are suffering.

[From AP via The Huffington Post]

About 45,000 people a month die in the Congo. One in five children will not live past five. Affleck spoke of the way the people he met touched him and how he understands that there is suspicion of his motives:

“The people here in my experience are really extraordinary people, and they’re dealing with sometimes some extraordinarily difficult circumstances, sometimes even horrific circumstances,” he said. “But I don’t see them as victims; I see them as people who are doing extraordinary things and who deserve to have some attention paid to what they’re doing. I want to kind of bring people along, and if they might not tune into this unless it was some celebrity involved in it — either because they’re interested in the celebrity or want to see the celebrity make a fool of himself — then so be it.”

“People should see actors on television doing charitable work and be suspicious of that, and at the end of watching this I hope they find themselves less suspicious of that and more interested in this and perhaps involved in it,” he said.

[From ABC News]

Ben Affleck’s appearance on Nightline will be shown tonight on ABC at 11:35 pm. He’s right that it’s a cliché that once a celebrity learns about a specific problem it gets coverage, but they also have an incredible opportunity to bring attention to people who are in dire straits. I’d rather celebrities focus on getting help to the third world than making it seem glamorous to carry purses worth enough to support an entire family there for a year.

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