fake new york times - The Art of the Prank

Submitted by Emerson Dameron and Clark Stoeckley:

WikiLeaks claims responsibility for fake Bill Keller column, citing donation ban
by Ed Pilkington
guardian.co.uk
29 July 2012

Hoax including fake tweets and a counterfeit Times website dismissed as ‘childish prank’ by former editor Bill Keller

Bill Keller, former New York Times executive editor and current columnist, has found himself the subject of an elaborate internet hoax. Photograph: Ruth Fremson/AP
WikiLeaks, the whistleblowing site set up by Julian Assange, has claimed that it was behind the fake opinion piece circulating on the internet under the name of Bill Keller, columnist and former executive editor of the New York Times.

In a tweet, WikiLeaks said:

The organisation implied that it – or its “great supporters”, whomsoever they might be – had carried out the stunt in a bid to embarrass the Times into covering the financial blockade of WikiLeaks by US companies: Continue reading “Fake Bill Keller Op-Ed Claimed by Wikileaks”

Submitted by Erin:

A Fake Tax Rattles Classic Car Buffs
by Michael Barbaro
The New York Times
April 7, 2011

Click to see the mock New York Times article.

As April Fool”s gags go, the Shelby American Automobile Club”s 2011 spoof did not seem especially convincing. Until, that is, hundreds of classic car lovers across the country were duped, became enraged and started to organize against a nonexistent threat.

A few days ago, the Connecticut club printed a fake front page of The New York Times that included what purported to be a major scoop: to close the federal deficit, Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York was proposing a federal tax on specialty automobiles. Continue reading “Classic Car Club Quickly Reverses Over Prank”