Krishnan Guru-Murthy bemoans obsession with Robert Downey Jr interview in Reddit AMA

The Channel 4 News broadcaster's thread about the Cambodian genocide was hijacked by people discussing the disastrous interview

Krishnan Guru-Murthy: 'After a couple of decades of very well-intended initiatives, we have failed to deliver people from diverse backgrounds at the top' (Getty Images)

Krishnan Guru-Murthy has earned his stripes as a reporter. He's been to India to raise awareness of the plight of coalminers. He's covered the Arab Spring. He's reported from the townships of South Africa, and even done a stint on Newsround.

So it's understandable that the news anchor was irritated when his Reddit AMA on Tuesday was overtaken by people debating that controversial interview with Avengers actor Robert Downey Jr.

Guru-Murthy was taking part in the online chat to publicise his latest topical documentary in the Unreported World series. Only his attempt to talk about families separated by the Cambodian Khmer Rouge was thwarted by people talking about the nuances of interviewing celebrities.

The Channel 4 presenter became a talking point the world over after an interview with Downey Jr went spectacularly wrong after he tried to talk about the actor's past problems with drugs.

Downey Jr walked out of the interview, leaving Guru-Murthy flummoxed.

Despite having written a Guardian opinion piece about the incident, Guru-Murthy wasn't able to escape conversation about it on his AMA, with an enormous chunk of the conversation taken up with Reddit users debating who was in the wrong.

Despite remaining civil in response to Downey Jr chat, Guru-Murthy let his guard slip later on.

Answering a question about what he thought the most important "big issue" of the day is, Guru-Murthy bemoaned an obsession with celebrity. "We cover 'big issues' on the news and Unreported World all the time. Our reporters (me included) go to difficult and dangerous places to report on terrible things," he said.

"I want them to get a bigger audience, as the things that really matter. People should watch and debate them. That's why I'm doing things like this on Reddit. I think it is utterly tragic so many of the questions on an encounter like this are about celebrity and not the 'big issues'".

There is - perhaps - an irony that Guru-Murthy complained that Robert Downey Jr treated the Channel 4 interview as a promotional slot for the Avengers, and then treated the AMA as a promotional slot for his Cambodia film, but there we have it.