Affleck takes on TV reporting role

Ben Affleck has filmed a report about war-torn Congo for US news show Nightline.

The 35-year-old actor travelled to the Democratic Republic of Congo to film a segment highlighting how violence, starvation and disease claims 1,200 lives a day in the region.

In a posting on US network ABC's website, Affleck said that viewers shouldn't be skeptical about his "celebrity activism".

He said: "There is always the suspicion that involvement with a cause may be doing more good for the spokesman than he or she is doing for the cause."

He added: "I hope you can separate whatever reservations you may have from what is unimpeachably important about this segment: the plight of eastern Congo."

Affleck's Nightline episode airs next Thursday on ABC.