Political activist group The Yes Men held a fake press conference yesterday, posing as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, saying that the Chamber reversed its stance on climate change. The “news”, as it weren’t, got picked up by Reuters and then breathlessly reported on the 24-hour financial news networks, including Fox Business Channel, seen here.

The video from the fake presser is worth watching (the comments from the fake reporters planted in the crowd are particularly good – “I’m on deadline”) but this one really does it for me.

First comes the stammering from our oblong-headed headline reader – you can almost see the cognitive dissonance working its way through his addled brain. Next, trying to make some sense of all of this, our FBC reader then seems to be blaming nuclear energy. Finally, after muttering for the 60 seconds it would’ve taken to verify the fake story, they finally realize that they’ve been had and immediately go on the attack. So desperate to be the ones who broke what turned out to be an untrue story, they are now going to make sure the world knows who really screwed this one up.

What a country.