New York Times staffers were apparently involved in yesterday’s elaborate prank to print and distribute 1.2 million copies of a “utopian” version of the paper, dated July 4, 2009, which reported on what the country would be like if campaign promises come true.  Those who missed the print edition can check out the website at http://nytimes-se.com/.  Video of the distribution available here.  The pranksters wrote a heartfelt op-ed about what needs to be done, and how to contact organizations that are trying to make these utopian headlines a reality.

[The f]ollowing are just a few of the many, many groups working for change. Join them, support them, or start your own, and we can begin to make the news in this paper the news in every paper.

Coverage from New York Magazine -

Steve Lambert, an artist who helped organize yesterday’s amazingly elaborate fake New York Times prank, on the phone last night, as he was basking in the glow of a job well done.

“Like all great ideas, it originated at a bar in Brooklyn,” he said of the project, in which 1.2 million copies of a utopian version of the paper, headlined “Iraq War Ends,” were distributed all across the city. “There were just a few people at the table, but we knew immediately the scale we wanted to work on, and that we’d have to tap on a lot of friends. It grew larger and larger.” The project, which was inspired by the candidates’ calls for change during the election, was financed by individual donors, took over a year to complete, he said, and involved thousands of people.

The site Gawker was in on the prank pretty early, reporting around 9:30 am Wednesday, with a copy of the email sent to the footsoldiers responsible for distributing the papers.  Culture jamming groups, including The Yes Men, are taking responsibility for their involvement, organizing volunteers via the website http://becausewewantit.org/.

The AP story via Wash Post:

The 14-page paper — which also announced the abolition of corporate lobbying, a maximum wage for CEOs and a recall for all gasoline-fueled cars — showed up in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.

….

Steven Lambert, an editor of the parody who teaches art at New York’s Hunter College and Parsons The New School for Design, and gave his real name, said the project was a success.

“This really resonated with people on the street,” Lambert said. “First, there was a moment of, ‘How could this be true?’ But then people enjoyed this feeling of, ‘Ah, amazing things really could happen!’ The paper provides this vision of what’s possible if we all work together.”

The City Room Blog from the NYT comments on the project here.

“I would say if you’ve got one, hold on to it,” Mr. Jones, a former Times reporter, said of the fake issue. “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.”

He added, “I consider this a gigantic compliment to The Times.”

It seems from the Times’ reaction that they’re enjoying the prank.  It’s being reported on page C7 of today’s paper, but it remains to be seen whether they’ll sue the pranksters for copyright infringement.  Conveniently, we’re starting Fair Use today in copyrights.

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