US News

‘Times’ op-ed a WikiFake

WikiLeaks created a fake New York Times Web site featuring a supportive op-ed falsely attributed to former editor Bill Keller — and so realistic, even the top brass at the Gray Lady was fooled.

The high-quality forgery, which appears identical to the real site, was posted online yesterday, and the links on the page directed readers to actual Times stories.

The editorial showed Keller’s picture for the piece headlined “WikiLeaks, a Post Postscript” and was generally positive of the group and founder Julian Assange.

The re-creation was so spot-on, the paper’s technology editor, Nick Bilton, tweeted a link to the phony column, saying it is an “important piece.”

Keller, who has been an op-ed writer since stepping down from the top job last September, wasn’t amused and put out an all-caps denial on Twitter.

“THERE IS A FAKE OP-ED GOING AROUND UNDER MY NAME, ABOUT WIKILEAKS. EMPHASIS ON ‘FAKE.’ AS IN, NOT MINE,” he posted just as the piece was getting attention.

After hours of speculation, WikiLeaks took credit for the fakery.

The Times was one of the media organizations that first had access to WikiLeaks documents, but Assange was infuriated after it published a story critical of him.