Chamber Of Commerce Victim Of Massive Climate Change Hoax
source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/19/chamber-of-commerce-hoax_n_326069.html
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- tcmfan08
- added this
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce was the victim of an massive hoax on Monday in which a group pretending to be the business lobby hosted a fake news conference at the National Press Club announcing a "dramatic" shift in its position on climate change.
The guilty party remains, as of mid-day, undisclosed. But their ruse was elaborate enough to catch several reporters (and apparently the press club itself) off guard. The first inklings that something fishy was going on came at roughly 11:15 am when a email press release was sent out under the Chamber's logo and name announcing that the organization was now "throwing its weight behind strong climate legislation." The name of the Chamber's president was misspelled, and a quick follow-up call to the actual group revealed that no such policy shift had occurred.
Before a correction could be issued, Reuters ran with the story, which was subsequently carried on various news outlet websites as well as covered by business television stations like CNBC.
It turns out, that an email press release was just one component of the hoax. In addition, the fake group managed to secure space at the prestigious National Press Club to host a "press conference" announcing its change in climate change position, according to the real Chamber. Several reporters were in attendance, I'm told, unaware that this was all a big joke.
The event would have gone off without a hitch except for the fact that an actual Chamber spokesman was tipped off to the shenanigans and moved quickly to break it up. A reporter interested in covering what she thought was a real event inadvertently showed up at the Chamber's office on H Street instead of the press club.
...More...
The guilty party remains, as of mid-day, undisclosed. But their ruse was elaborate enough to catch several reporters (and apparently the press club itself) off guard. The first inklings that something fishy was going on came at roughly 11:15 am when a email press release was sent out under the Chamber's logo and name announcing that the organization was now "throwing its weight behind strong climate legislation." The name of the Chamber's president was misspelled, and a quick follow-up call to the actual group revealed that no such policy shift had occurred.
Before a correction could be issued, Reuters ran with the story, which was subsequently carried on various news outlet websites as well as covered by business television stations like CNBC.
It turns out, that an email press release was just one component of the hoax. In addition, the fake group managed to secure space at the prestigious National Press Club to host a "press conference" announcing its change in climate change position, according to the real Chamber. Several reporters were in attendance, I'm told, unaware that this was all a big joke.
The event would have gone off without a hitch except for the fact that an actual Chamber spokesman was tipped off to the shenanigans and moved quickly to break it up. A reporter interested in covering what she thought was a real event inadvertently showed up at the Chamber's office on H Street instead of the press club.
...More...
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- groups:
- Community, Current Tonight, Hall of Hoaxes
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- tags:
- Climate Change, Hoax, Chamber of Commerce
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nursediesel
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That's definately not a good thing. Someone's going to need legal haelp real soon.
- 2 years ago
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nursediesel
