US Chamber of Commerce Responds to Yes Men Hoax

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The US Chamber of Commerce (the real one) issued a response to the fake press conference we reported on earlier, saying they will be “asking law enforcement authorities to investigate this event.”

The “irresponsible tactics” that the Yes Men used “are a foolish distraction from the serious effort by our nation to reduce greenhouse gases,” said Chamber Senior Vice President for Communications and Strategy Thomas J. Collamore said in the statement. “Public relations hoaxes undermine the genuine effort to find solutions on the challenge of climate change,” he added.

“The U.S. Chamber believes that strong climate legislation is compatible with the goals of improving our economy and creating jobs,” he said. “We continuously seek opportunities to engage in a constructive dialogue to achieve these goals.”

It’s not clear exactly what legal course the Chamber can pursue. Copyright infringement, for using their logo? Misrepresentation? Fraud? In any case, the seriousness with which they’re taking the prank far outweighs the seriousness with they’ve taken climate change for all these years—underscoring the point of today’s parody.

Notably, the press release the real Chamber sent out today repeats the claim that the group represents “more than 3 million businesses and organizations,” a figure that Josh Harkinson set straight last week. The Chamber was then forced to correct their number. The fake press release, however, says they have 300,000 members–a figure closer to their real membership total.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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