In Germany, tens of thousands of Die Zeit readers received a fake newspaper issue that looked so convincing that many were first seriously alarmed. The front page reported the end of NATO, Germany's shift to alternative energy, and the end of the global financial crisis, but it later turned out to be an action by a far left group. The story sparked suspicion and debate, and the editor in chief admitted the fake was astonishingly high quality.
Tens of thousands of Germans who got hold of the Saturday edition of the newspaper Die Zeit were extremely surprised, and some were even frightened. On the front page of the publication, it said that the North Atlantic Alliance no longer existed, Germany was switching to alternative energy sources, and the global financial crisis had ended.The issue date – May 2010 – was not noticed by everyone. It turned out that the entire print run was fake. The counterfeit copies of the newspaper were printed by a far-left group, whose members handed out the copies for free on the streets of German cities.
The group’s activists said they simply wanted people to think about the future. The print quality was very high, so suspicions immediately arose that real Die Zeit employees were also involved in the prank.
– Of course, we cannot approve of such fakes, especially when they are of such high quality. I was even surprised by how much effort and time they spent — and it’s not cheap! – said the publication’s editor-in-chief Giovanni di Lorenzo.