A spectacle in New York City Wednesday morning proved the Times isn't actually beyond parody - yet. Yesterday afake New York Times was handed out to Manhattan commuters, an elaborate, 14-page parody [1] [1]dated July 4, 2009. (You can watch a briefMSNBC news clip on the fake Times on Times Watch's sister site Eyeblast.tv [2].)
The Times itself took notice in a brief [3]Arts section story [3]Thursday:
Thousands of New York commuters on Wednesday morning were handed copies of a newspaper that looked a lot like The New York Times, with a main headline blaring "IRAQ WAR ENDS." Articles described a nation turned hard left: nationalized oil companies, a "maximum wage" law, the enactment of national health insurance, President Bush indicted for treason and evangelical churches providing sanctuary for Iraqi refugees.
Sounds like a wish-list from the Times' editorial page.
A left-wing collective called the Yes Men has claimed [4]responsibility [4]for the project. ANew York Post editorial claimed that three Times [5]journalists [5]actually took part:
...it not only looked exactly like the Times - it read like it, too.
No surprise, then, when a spokesman for the parody admitted that three Times journalists - whose names he refused to reveal - took part in the project.
For them, it was probably nothing more than just another day's work.