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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2009
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Activists Behind Fake Post Prank Arrested

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(Newser) – Police today arrested three activists who were distributing a parody issue of the New York Post, Daily Finance reports. Volunteers all over New York were distributing the phony paper, which was intended to call attention to climate change. But when some tried distributing it in front of the Post’s building, police came, arrested them, and took their papers.

A photographer on the scene says the police appeared to be “acting in concert with building security.” He estimates the volunteers were held for 15-20 minutes. The parody paper was the work of The Yes Men, who last fall produced a fake New York Times proclaiming the end of the Iraq war. The group says it chose the Post because of its frequent climate change denials.

A screenshot of the frontpage of the parody New York Post, found at nypost-se.com.
A screenshot of the frontpage of the parody New York Post, found at nypost-se.com.
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21 comments
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ryderbackside
Sep 21, 09 2:14 PM CDT
Jeez, how bout telling us what the parody was actually about? I looked at the picture. What, some global warming mania? I shouldn't have to google a news story because this news site only says, "something vaguely may or may not have happened'. Headline! Reply
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Reader64481089
Sep 21, 09 2:18 PM CDT
This article does say the paper was in regards to climate change which the Post has written several pieces denying there is climate change. The main article has this quote if you had read it "The parody issue was distributed today to raise awareness in advance of tomorrow's United Nations talks on climate change. Yes Men co-founder Andy Bichlbaum says the group printed about 1 million copies at a cost of $50,000; the expense was underwritten by a private donor who prefers to remain anonymous."
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RogerMohajir
Sep 21, 09 2:21 PM CDT
All told, I'm sure the police spent at least one hour addressing this "crime." According to the NYPD website, there were 2030 serious crimes (murder, rape, robbery, felony assault, burglary, grand larceny, and auto theft) during the week of 9/7 to 9/13/09. That works out to an average of 12 serious crimes per hour. And NY's finest were required to spend their time on this? I had no idea that they were now in charge of enforcing copyright law, complete with an on-the-street determination of whether something is protected as satire. Or were they enforcing trespassing laws? Loitering, perhaps? It is ridiculous that the brave men and women of the NYPD had to waste their time because Rupert Murdoch's bulbous nose was put out of joint. Reply
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+20
IN RESPONSE:
nick
Sep 21, 09 3:07 PM CDT
Roger: Great post. Deserved 10 thumbs up from me!
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+7
IN RESPONSE:
bewilderbeast
Sep 22, 09 4:21 AM CDT
Hairy Roger put his finger right on the real story here! Well done.
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+1

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