Institute For The Future

Future Pranksters Create New York Times, 2009 Edition

 

Last Friday, I attended Takeovers & Makeovers at UC Berkeley, an event all about fair use and appropriation in the digital era. During his panel, artist Michael Mandiberg mentioned an impending hoax that had something to do with a major media institution but wouldn't specify which one. He went on to say, however, that the hoax required someone to print up some newspapers, and none of the printers who could handle a large run in the New York area were willing to participate because they work with the media institution in question. It became very clear that the newspaper was the New York Times and the prank was going to be some fake papers. Mandiberg kept the who, when, or exactly what to himself.

 

I had basically forgotten about it until today, when someone posted about a NYTimes hoax on a message board. As it turns out, the when is today, the who is the Yes Men, and the exactly what is a run of 1.2 million fake copies of the New York Times dated Saturday, July 4, 2009 announcing—among other utopian fantasies come true—the end of the Iraq war. They also put together an impressively good copy of NYTimes.com (note "Copyleft 2009 The New York Times Company" at the bottom of the page).