See the Yes Men video:
The shenanigans began this morning when an email blast that looked remarkably like a regular Chamber email briefing went out to members of the press announcing that the group had caved to pressure and reversed its position on climate change legislation. Reuters immediately published a story on the supposed reversal, which went onto Google News and was picked up by The New York Times and The Washington Post.
Meanwhile, on the 13th floor of the National Press Club in downtown Washington, a news event was beginning. According to the Guardian, a man in a "nondescript" dark suit took the podium, which bore the Chamber logo. "There is only one way to do business and that is to pass a climate bill quickly so this December President Obama can go to Copenhagen and negotiate with a strong position," the man said. He introduced himself as "Hingo Sembra" and said he represented the Chamber of Commerce.
As a handful of fake reporters stood by and fake handouts were passed around, a staffer from the real Chamber burst into the room and began yelling at the man, who was shortly revealed as an impostor. Eric Wohlschlegel, a spokesman for the real Chamber, had caught wind of the hoax when a reporter mistakenly showed up at the Chamber headquarters. "This guy is a fake! He's lying! This is a stunt that I've never seen before," Wohlschlegel said as he broke onto scene, according to The Washington Post.
The impostors appeared to be members of the comic activist group The Yes Men, which according to its Web site "impersonates big-time criminals in order to publicly humiliate them." The group is known for even larger-scale world-policy stunts, such as when members posed as ExxonMobile representatives and gave a fake keynote address at Canada's largest oil conference. As the Yes Men often target major players in the debate over climate change policy, members have also impersonated officials from Halliburton and the World Trade Organization.
By early afternoon Wednesday, Reuters had replaced its original story with a correction, and the Chamber issued a statement about the phony event. "These irresponsible tactics are a foolish distraction from the serious effort by our nation to reduce greenhouse gases," said Thomas J. Collamore, the Chamber's senior vice president for communications and strategy. The Chamber also said it would be asking law enforcement to investigate the incident.
The speaker at the press conference did not reveal his real name, but said he represented a coalition of environmental groups.
Subscribe to the Rightardia feed: feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/IGiu
Netcraft rank: 7039 http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=http://rightardia.blogspot.com
No comments:
Post a Comment