Fake New York Times hits New York....Real New York Times decides it's a fake....

It’s not often that traditional print media is current, in fact the majority of time it’s already out of date by the time it hits the stands. However, the residents of New York got a rare “glimpse” into the future when they picked up a copy of what they thought was The New York Times, with the headline on the front reading “Iraq War Ends”. Other stories included "Public Universities To Be Free", the catch? They were spoofs.

The “special edition” paper was dated July 4 2009 and was actually an elaborate stunt by a group called The Yes Men.According to reports out there, up to 1.2 million copies of the newspaper were distributed with a website also promoted. The stunt was organised via the web and most of the people involved were volunteers. The Yes Men had wanted their involvement to remain secret, but a few emails that have surfaced appear to prove they are behind this (genius) stunt. I particularly like the quote from a New York Times spokesperson: “This is obviously a fake issue” – ya think, genius!

MyTake – Clever stuff and it must have taken a hell of a lot of organization. My interpretation of this is that the old establishments such as the New York Times are never going to be able to cover the news as fast as their online cousins, and the raw truth is that online has been telling print what to write for about ten years now. Great stunt, got me talking about.