Former New York Times executive editor Bill Keller showed little outrage over the fake op-ed in defense of Wikileaks that was published in his name on a phony New York Times-esque website, saying on Sunday that while it was annoying it also offered him a learning opportunity.
"Initially it was just annoying, and then it just seemed kind of silly," he said on CNN's Reliable Sources. "Part of me felt like it was a waste of a good Sunday afternoon because it generated so much discussion and buzz and kerfuffle."
The op-ed was quickly debunked as fake by Internet users, who realized that the URL for the page was different from the normal New York Times URL. While the op-ed itself was fake, and later Wikileaks took credit for it via a tweet, Keller admitted that parts of it were taken from an email exchange about Wikileaks that he had had with a media reporter.
Keller said that while it was annoying, it was interesting to follow Twitter users as they uncovered the forgery.
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