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U.S. Chamber Says ‘no’ To Yes Men Stunt
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Copyright 2009 Crain CommunicationsAll Rights Reserved Business Insurance
October 26, 2009
NEWS; Pg. 0031
264 words
U.S. Chamber says ‘no’ to Yes Men stunt
The line between news and entertainment sometimes can get quite blurry,
particularly with the growth of reality TV and 24-hour news programs.
But what about the line between real news and fake news?
Consider what happened at Washington’s National Press Club last week.
An environmental activist held a news conference, which activists of
all shades are wont to do. The catch was that the activist asserted he
represented the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He said that the Chamber,
which has staunchly opposed climate change legislation in the current
Congress, had changed its tune and would now support the proposals. The
event featured fake press releases bearing the real Chamber logo and
some fake reporters.
But then a representative of the real
Chamber showed up and denounced the event as a fake. According to the
Washington Post, the fake spokesman was a member of an
“activist-prankster group called the Yes Men,” which has staged other
hoax events “to draw attention to what they believe is slow progress in
fighting climate change.”
The Post account continued, “After the jig was up, a real reporter
asked the fake spokesman if he thought this kind of event—if lying
about who he was, particularly—was really going to help his side win
the national climate debate.
“‘Don’t know,’ he said, apparently speaking as himself,” wrote the Post.
Reporters who didn’t know that he was a fake until the real Chamber
spokesman unmasked him ought to be asking themselves a few questions
about how they were so easily taken in as well.
Copyright 2009 Crain Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved.
October 28, 2009
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