Read All About It: Fake New York Times Offered

Update III: Here's a second video of the Fake NY Times (aka "New York Times Special Edition") being handed out:

Earlier coverage and updates below:
This morning, New Yorkers are being offered free copies of the New York Times--which happen to be fake. One reader tells us, "After taking it I realized that the date was 7/4/09, and the headline read 'Iraq War Over'. It's full of fake articles, fake ads (even a Dr Zizmor 'Clean up the mess in the Iraq' ad), and a clever twist on the Times' slogan reading 'All the news we hope to print.'"

You can see the fake New York Times website, which has articles like "New York Bike Path System Expanded Dramatically" and "Public Relations Industry Forecasts a Series of Massive Layoffs"--and "National Health Insurance Act Passes."

New York Times Special Edition Video News Release - Nov. 12, 2008 from H Schweppes on Vimeo.

Gawker says the volunteers distributing the papers were "rallied online via BecauseWeWantit.org" and notes the email to volunteered is " linked to the site of The Yes Men, longtime liberal prank group that has been doing things just as complex and finely tuned as this for years."

Update I: CityRoom spoke to Alex S. Jones, who co-wrote “The Trust," about the paper's history, "I would say, If you’ve got one, hold on to it. It will probably be a collector’s item. I’m just glad someone thinks the New York Times print edition is worthy of an elaborate hoax. A Web spoof would have been infinitely easier. But creating a print newspaper and handing it out at subway stations? That takes a lot of effort... I consider this a gigantic compliment to The Times.”

CityRoom also got a quote from Times spokeswoman Catherine Mathis, who seems less enthralled, “This is obviously a fake issue of The Times. We are in the process of finding out more about it.”

Update II: A video and press release from "New York Times Special Edition"

Early this morning, commuters nationwide were delighted to find out that while they were sleeping, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan had come to an end.
If, that is, they happened to read a "special edition" of today's New York Times.

In an elaborate operation six months in the planning, 1.2 million papers were printed at six different presses and driven to prearranged pickup locations, where thousands of volunteers stood ready to pass them out on the street.

Articles in the paper announce dozens of new initiatives including the
establishment of national health care, the abolition of corporate lobbying, a maximum wage for C.E.O.s, and, of course, the end of the war.

The paper, an exact replica of The New York Times, includes International, National, New York, and Business sections, as well as editorials, corrections, and a number of advertisements, including a recall notice for all cars that run on gasoline. There is also a timeline describing the gains brought about by eight months of progressive support and pressure, culminating in President Obama's "Yes we REALLY can" speech. (The paper is post-dated July 4, 2009.)

"It's all about how at this point, we need to push harder than ever," said Bertha Suttner, one of the newspaper's writers. "We've got to make sure Obama and all the other Democrats do what we elected them to do. After eight, or maybe twenty-eight years of hell, we need to start imagining heaven."

Not all readers reacted favorably. "The thing I disagree with is how they did it," said Stuart Carlyle, who received a paper in Grand Central Station while commuting to his Wall Street brokerage. "I'm all for freedom of speech, but they should have started their own paper."

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on November 12, 2008 5:25 PM

Comments [rss]

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LOL. Fake newspaper - that's what we'll do for the next April Fools' Day!
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se the Today's Paper page to see all the headlines from the Final City Edition of The New York Times wood pellets

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New york is no longer the famous media around, Look around you people.Well, They must get arrested.

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Its very interesting news of faking of reports, but it is hard to believe about New York times.

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Newspapers, it happens all the time. We have the same situation with European editions.

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Instant news indeed. Faking a report that they supposed to uphold the truth. Another setback on their integrity takes its toll on its popularity.

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Well, They must get arrested. They fake the people. I just hope that they are all arrested by the police. Thanks for this information by the way. Its interesting.

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This is alarming. A certified News Company that is popular and well respected got itself some mistakes. They should monitor their release on all their papers on news since a slight mistake could be devastating. I do hope they resolve this.

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Is this news sure? It might be very upsetting for the orginals =P

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It's all fake stories that have a neo-lib spin. Even the phony NY Times stinks.

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I am not able to watch the video due to some problem, but it was nice article to read.

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New york is no longer the famous media around, Look around you people.

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If you want to make a fake paper, go ahead, but don't use the name of a real paper. It dilutes their trademark and creates confusion. It would have been quite easy to make a very NYT-esque paper with only a slightly different name. The New York City Times. The New New York Times. The Five Boro Times. The Times They Are a-Changing

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If you want to make a fake paper, go ahead, but don't use the name of a real paper. It dilutes their trademark and creates confusion. It would have been quite easy to make a very NYT-esque paper with only a slightly different name. The New York City Times. The New New York Times. The Five Boro Times. The Times They Are a-Changing. club penguin

john mish

If you want to make a fake paper, go ahead, but don't use the name of a real paper. It dilutes their trademark and creates confusion. It would have been quite easy to make a very NYT-esque paper with only a slightly different name. The New York City Times. The New New York Times. The Five Boro Times. The Times They Are a-Changing. club penguin

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Free and NY Times are always good words to hear. Especially when half asleep and I left my new book at home, the ipod isn’t charged, etc. Upon quick glance before ducking into the subway, the headline Iraq War Ended issued a knee jerk, “Holy Sh-t!” As I took a seat on the L train making my way out to Greenpoint, nose rings I was puzzled at the headlines, and then searched around for the masthead and op-ed’s to make sense of who had been behind this pleasant surprise

King

Free and NY Times are always good words to hear. Especially when half asleep and I left my new book at home, the ipod isn’t charged, etc. Upon quick glance before ducking into the subway, the headline Iraq War Ended issued a knee jerk, “Holy Sh-t!” As I took a seat on the L train making my way out to Greenpoint, nose rings I was puzzled at the headlines, and then searched around for the masthead and op-ed’s to make sense of who had been behind this pleasant surprise

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How do I get that started for all types of classifieds for my newspaper. New Yorkers are being offered free copies of the New York Times--which happen to be fake.rao

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I saw that New York Times was offering text messages for real estate classifieds. How do I get that started? How do I get that started for all types of classifieds for my newspaper? And is it possible to do that with picture messaging?..thanks by...Anisha

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@noneck: Fuck you very much. This project was not set up so you could cash in on it.

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"It's all fake stories that have a neo-lib spin. Even the phony NY Times stinks."

Yeah! Progressive good news SUCKS, man!

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Just think what the fake news would be if the spin was conservative

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fyi #32, you don't seem to know what neoliberal means. Neoliberalism = capitalism on steroids. and the paper definitely wasn't advocating that.

HUGO_MEGO

It's all fake stories that have a neo-lib spin. Even the phony NY Times stinks.

eaf

I got off the PATH train this morning at 14th and 6th. All was as normal as ever. I grabbed an AM NY paper from the cheerful individual who passes out at the exit on the street level. As I rounded the corner, this woman caught my attention with the words “free NY Times, Special Edition!”. Free and NY Times are always good words to hear. Especially when half asleep and I left my new book at home, the ipod isn’t charged, etc. Upon quick glance before ducking into the subway, the headline Iraq War Ended issued a knee jerk, “Holy Sh-t!” As I took a seat on the L train making my way out to Greenpoint, I was puzzled at the headlines, and then searched around for the masthead and op-ed’s to make sense of who had been behind this pleasant surprise. I hope it is the YES MEN. I love their work! BRAVO!

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War begins...

with a W.

Aight fo' realz i knew that.

Steven

The fake NY Times has been down/extremely very slow all day long. I hope the site stays up for a while because I haven't been able to see the articles.

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Brilliant.

chris

How much is the "Not the New York Times" worth, and had most of you idiots ever heard of it?

Stop being so preachy and sanctimonious, handing this stuff out is one step away from handing out religious tracts or - heaven forbid - giving free stress tests.

S.D.

Yeah, but people see fake things in the NY Post everyday....

Steven

A copy is selling for $200 on ebay. Greedy much?

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The real Times has a point. If you want to make a fake paper, go ahead, but don't use the name of a real paper. It dilutes their trademark and creates confusion. It would have been quite easy to make a very NYT-esque paper with only a slightly different name. The New York City Times. The New New York Times. The Five Boro Times. The Times They Are a-Changing.

How about a fake Post? They could have all the most outrageous, unbelievable stories... wait, nobody would notice it wasn't the real Post. As long as they were doing a blue sky version of the Times, they should have had an article saying Rupert Murdoch changes party affiliation to Democrat and orders the Post to exercise journalistic integrity.

S.D.

Gawker has the run down.

The site is really well done.

Kevin Walsh

The infamous "Not the New York Times" thing came out in 1978, a full 30 years ago. I still remember it.

www.forgotten-ny.com

mocanlagunas

as a volunteer, you should be ashamed of profiteering with this...

JMH

Guess I'm probably too late to hunt one of these down.

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i still have a bunch of them that i saved.

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whitecastlerock

Collector's item? Uhhh probably not. If they printed about 500 of them maybe, but 1.2 million? Don't think so.

myfigurefemale

@ noneck. do you have a link to the listing? i put mine up also but didn't see any others...

noneck

as one of the volunteers who woke up at 6am to help hand out 1,000 of them at Grand Central, i saved 25 of them and have put them up on ebay. you should have seen the faces of the people this morning.

bagelman

i can't believe that stooge defended nyt coverage of iraq war, and i'm happy that somebody called him out on judith miller. let's not forget that nyt spoon-fed us WMD in early 2003.

ed_Extinct

For a quick second I had thought, "Did the Onion buy the New York Times?"

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They should have gotten Jayson Blair and Judith Miller to contribute stories.

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#7: I hear they're going to pretend to fire the imaginary editor over that one.

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This will surely sell well on eBay.

Rocknrope

I'd like to see the pessimist's version of this edition - leaders assassinated, Iran fires Sidewinders at Syrian pipeline, militias form in the South and Midwest, riots in major metropolitans.

I'm cheery like that.

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damn... want one... I guess I'm out of luck by now...

EricGewiz

The "Bush to Face Charges" teaser below the fold would have been much higher up. Bad fake editorial decision.

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Perhaps some of the Times financial woes can be solved by suing these people.

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The website is down...

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I'm having a hard time accessing the site...

drewo

Wasn't there something called Not The New York Times many years ago? (it may have been created by the Nat'l Lampoon people). I have a copy somewhere in a box.