First Drafts - The Prospect magazine blog

Perhaps, in time

It’s close to midnight on Wednesday evening, and the lights burn brightly still at Prospect towers; as mentioned below, tonight is press night, so the team stays late, and make sure no i goes undotted. But wouldn’t it be nice if someone would just magically produce the next copy of the magazine for us? This late-night thought prompted by a charming incident from last week, in which some optimistic pranksters began to distribute a fake edition of the New York Times around Manhattan, in celebration of Obama’s victory.

Crain’s New York Business takes up the story, and provides an amusing video for the stunt also:

Early Wednesday, a hoard of volunteers distributed free copies of a fake NYT, rife with headlines like “Iraq War Ends” and “Universities to Be Free” printed under the modified mantra “All The News We Hope to Print.”

Post-dated July 4, 2009, the 14-page newspaper was supplemented by a Web site, also designed to look and function like the New York Times’ site. The spoof site links to dozens of progressive organizations, which are also referenced in the print version.

Its unlikely the proprietors of the po-faced Grey Lady saw the funny side.