NBC reporter Ann Curry’s fawning interview with actor Ben Affleck (NBC Nightly News, 5/19/10), about his celebrity activist work in the Congo, is downright embarrassing:
CURRY: Why do you pick the place that people think is actually one of the worst places in terms of the number of atrocities, in terms of the level of suffering, one of the worst places on Earth?
AFFLECK: I really do see tremendous hopefulness. I’m really moved by the power of folks to find solutions to their own problems. The Congolese sense of kind of strength and self-sufficiency and resilience.
CURRY: And he’s seen it in four trips since 2007.
AFFLECK: They’re rebuilding the engine.
CURRY: Realizing local organizations can make the difference, hat in hand…
AFFLECK: I went to a lot of other folks who were experts and who knew a lot more than I did, and I said, “Can you help me?”
CURRY: …convincing major philanthropists to fund his multimillion-dollar Eastern Congo Initiative so he can make efforts like Christine’s.
AFFLECK: How long was the fighting with the…
CURRY: He’s a policy activist in the making.
AFFLECK: There’s almost no sort of law, judicial authority. You need to build some kind of a political constituency before policymakers take action.
CURRY: Boy, you come with a lot of passion. Boy! I’m like–I’m against the wall here.
AFFLECK: Sorry.CURRY: If there was a wall back here–I mean, no, no. Don’t apologize. You’re so passionate about this.
Really, why would you pick One of the Worst Places on Earth as the focus of your activism? The Nightly News certainly isn’t too interested in paying attention to such a place, as their story on Affleck marks the fifth segment they’ve devoted to the Congo in as many years. Two of those stories, by the way, were about gorillas. Sadly, this is par for the course for the Congo.
The video, which captures the moment even better than the transcript, is here.
I bet all of Africa danced in the streets when they found out that Ben Affleck had arrived to save them.
This is another example of how “journalism” is practiced today by infortainers like Ann Curry (who just happens to be the one featured in this case. You can add in the rest of the celebrities like Couric, Williams, Cooper, and their lesser-known colleagues. WIth few exceptions such as C.J. Chivers, Nick Kristof, Christiane Amanpour, real journalists don’t work for the corporate media.
I think Affleck’s (and by extension, other celebrity’s) efforts to do some good should be faulted, misguided and paternalistic though it sometimes may be. I’d rather they try and do some bit of good with their wealth and fame. I don’t think anyone with genuine intentions of doing good or fighting social inequality should be ridiculed for their efforts. If we have constructive criticism of the methods they use, I think that’s much more useful.
The larger point is that mainstream news media has almost no interest in covering any of these stories otherwise. While in an ideal world, Affleck’s work would get passing or no mention from the media and more in-depth coverage of these issues would be forefront, at least he’s been able to get the issue out there in some way.
It’s actually much worse. Ben Affleck is tight with the Kagame/RPF regime in Rwanda one of the major players in Congo’s devastation
http://dissidentvoice.org/2009/01/ben-affleck-rwanda-and-corporate-sustained-catastrophe/