October 19, 2009
Chamber of Commerce to seek investigation of hoax
Posted: October 19th, 2009 07:40 PM ET
From CNN Associate Producer Martina Stewart
WASHINGTON (CNN) – The U.S. Chamber of Commerce says it will ask law enforcement officials to investigate a fake press release and fake press conference staged at the National Press Club.
The business advocacy group was apparently the victim of a complex hoax Monday that involved fake press releases claiming the Chamber had changed its position on climate change legislation, and would now support cap-and-trade legislation introduced by Democrats in the Senate. The hoax also included a fake press conference in Washington that was reportedly interrupted by a real representative of the Chamber of Commerce.
"We will be asking law enforcement authorities to investigate this event," Thomas J. Collamore, the Chamber's Senior Vice President for Communications and Strategy said in a statement posted on the advocacy group's Web site Monday. "Public relations hoaxes undermine the genuine effort to find solutions on the challenge of climate change."
In a blog post on its Web site Monday, liberal activist group The Yes Men appeared to take credit for the hoax. The blog post includes a link to a fake set of remarks attributed to a Chamber official on the issue of climate change, as well as video of Monday's confrontation at the National Press Club.
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