Yes Men Use Social Media to Help Them Pull Off Media Heist with "We're Screwed" Edition of NY Post

This morning, starting at 4 a.m., more than 2,000 volunteers helped the social activist pranksters, the Yes Men, distribute more than one million copies of a fake New York Post special edition about the global warming crisis with the page one headline "We're Screwed!" They made masterful use of social media to organize and execute the stunt. The group used Twitter, Facebook, email, video, text messaging, and more to pull off the hoax.

While the paper was fake, the news was real. It came from an official City report, which warns that city could face deadly heat waves, extreme flooding, and other lethal effects of global warming within the next few decades.

The Yes Men claim that everything in it is "100% true, with all facts carefully checked by a team of editors and climate change experts." The Yes Men are a group of activist pranksters who practice what they call "identity correction" by pretending to be powerful people and spokespersons for prominent organizations, and who pull off large-scale activities like this one, involving thousands of people.

The group uses social media masterfully to organize and promote their events that have included false news reports of the demise of the WTO, or Dow paying for a Union Carbide cleanup.

Without a doubt, the best thing about this video showing how New Yorkers reacted to today's special edition is the reaction of the NY Post editor, who is almost knocked over by a bike rider after he accuses the Yes Men of sensationalism. Is it any wonder newspapers are in trouble with an attitude like that!

"This could be, and should be, a real New York Post," said Andy Bichlbaum of the
Yes Men. "Climate change is the biggest threat civilization has ever faced, and it
should be in the headlines of every paper, every day until we solve the problem."

"SPECIAL EDITION" NEW YORK POST from The Yes Men on Vimeo.