Things got interesting for New York commuters this morning when they were handed today’s edition of the New York Times for free. Even if they bought the gigantic headline announcing the end of the Iraq War, commuters might have picked up that it was a hoax from the paper’s date, which puts it at July 4, 2009. The stunt was planned by The Yes Men, an organization that describes itself as “a genderless, loose-knit association of some 300 impostors worldwide.”

Some of the headlines include “All Public Universities To Be Free,” and “Nation Sets Its Sights On Building Sane Economy.” Bertha Suttner, one of the fake newspaper’s writers, said in a statement, “We’ve got to make sure Obama and all the other Democrats do what we elected them to do.” Yes Men even set up a fake website so that you can check your fake news there! How thoughtful of us millenials! Anyway, here’s a video about the prankster’s efforts. Watch for the classic moment when a Times reporter seems perplexed on why they should be spoofed:

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

Sometimes the media can be confused on what the right reaction to satire is–anyone remember the New Yorker cover featuring the fist bump? But according to the City Room blogs, Alex Jones, a former Times reporter, said, “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.”

Gawker has been reporting pretty steadily on this; they even did a post on the fake ads, which just shows how much effort and planning was put into this project. Kudos, Yes Men!

Photo: Ned Resnikoff