Plagiarism Accusations Against New York Magazine Columnist

Ross Barkan, a columnist for New York Magazine, faces plagiarism accusations. The issue surfaced after Drew Harwell from the Washington Post pointed out similarities between Barkan’s article and Harwell’s own work on Ben Shapiro. Barkan had written about Shapiro’s business, echoing Harwell’s May 9 piece for The Daily Wire.

New York Magazine responded by issuing an editor’s note acknowledging Harwell’s contributions. Yet, Harwell stated he was not completely certain about the occurrence.

Further scrutiny from NPR’s Bobby Allyn identified more instances where Barkan’s writings appeared similar to content from The Intercept and Compact Magazine. These included nearly identical phrases and sections with altered words.

In response to these findings, New York Magazine announced a review of Barkan’s previous articles. Barkan defended his work, dismissing the allegations as unfounded. He also criticized Allyn’s approach on social media, questioning the seriousness of late-night requests for comment.

Barkan emphasized that he has published around 150 columns over the last year between Crain’s and New York Magazine, with scrutiny directed towards just three. He noted that one had been updated with proper citations, while two others already included them. He described the situation as a trivial dispute driven by bored media reporters.

Drew Harwell reaffirmed his plagiarism claim. He alleged Barkan copied his introductory passage almost verbatim. Matthew Schmitz from Compact Magazine also criticized Barkan, accusing him of heavily plagiarizing Juan David Rojas’ work, despite Barkan’s assertion that including a link to Rojas’ article sufficed as proper citation.