Antiwar activists spoof the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on April 1, 1991.

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On Monday, April 1, 1991, citizens of Seattle -- already jittery from the G. H. W. Bush administration's long saber-rattling PR campaign (and then its January 17th Operation Desert Storm attack against Iraqi forces) -- woke to find their morning edition of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer bearing a shocking headline: "WE LIE For your own good ..."

A Tale of Two Headlines

Additional above-the-fold headlines that day included "Gulf casualties estimated at over 100,000," and "Life goes on, and Americans are thinking about vacation again." A third -- "War reporting called 'inadequate'" -- got to the heart of the matter: that many people felt that the city's oldest metropolitan newspaper had been among the news-media outlets who had aided the White House's efforts to create an unjustified level of general fear about a purportedly dangerous enemy. A foe who was then vanquished in less than 60 days of battle -- albeit with massive loss, according to he International Red Cross, of Iraqi civilian lives. That essay opened with a statement that "Journalists from around the world have shirked their responsibility" and that "concerned citizens" have "a deep resentment" that "the world press was complicit in a government-organized campaign of misinformation and media control."

For a stunned moment or two, at least of few of us locals naively figured that the P-I had miraculously searched its soul and bravely come forth with a confession -- but, alas, it didn't take long to realize that: nah, it was just April Fool's Day! That blaring headline -- featuring GIGANTIC 2.25-INCH-TALL type-font -- was indeed not the P-I's intended front page, but rather, a 7.5 inch-tall strip of newsprint that had been cleverly applied over their actual feel-good top story: "20,000 GIs will leave Iraq, officers say."

Sympathy for the Rebels

As the hours passed, news broke that the whole thing had been an agit-prop protest prank conducted by an anti-war group called Disturbing the Peace. That band of artists -- in a well-planned scheme -- had raided newspaper street racks around town, pasted their fake satirical headline sheets to each copy, and then raced to return the altered units back to those various newspaper-vending street racks.

The P-I's publisher, Virgil Fassio, denounced the stunt as "unauthorized and illegal" and "a cowardly act" of sabotage "in the dead of night" that was "not likely to earn any sympathy for any cause." Newspaper circulation crews scrambled quickly and were able to confiscate and destroy about 500 copies of the altered units before they were purchased by any more unwitting customers.

Sources:
"WE LIE for your own good ...", altered Seattle Post-Intelligencer Morning Edition, April 1, 1991, p. 1; "20,000 GIs Will Leave Iraq, Officers Say," original Seattle Post-Intelligencer Morning Edition, April 1, 1991, p. 1; Scott Sunde, "Hundreds of P-I Front Pages Are Tampered With" / "April Fool's: Media Criticized for War Coverage," Seattle Post-Intelligencer, April 2, 1991, pp. B-1, B-2; and author's observations.

By Peter Blecha, February 17, 2009

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Prank front page of Seattle Post-Intelligencer, April 1, 1991
Courtesy Peter Blecha