A prominent columnist for New York Magazine is under investigation following allegations of plagiarism. Ross Barkan, 36, faced a wave of accusations from fellow journalists after a piece published on Thursday. A Washington Post reporter first noticed that the structure of the article's lead was nearly identical to a paragraph he had written days earlier. New York Magazine quickly appended an editor's note crediting the Post and added an acknowledgment within the paragraph in question.
However, NPR correspondent Bobby Allyn conducted what he described as 'another spot check' on Barkan, using an AI model to detect potential lifted content. This led to further claims of copied leads, stolen sentences, and improper citations. A spokesperson for New York Magazine stated that the publication is 'conducting a review of the writer's prior work' due to these similarities.
Barkan, who previously ran unsuccessfully for the New York State Senate in a campaign managed by Zohran Mamdani, has a forthcoming book about Mamdani titled The Revolutionary: Zohran Mamdani and the Remaking of American Politics, due out in October. In response to the allegations, Barkan told Fox News, 'I did not plagiarize anyone. All of this is ridiculous.' He also criticized Allyn on social media, claiming the journalist used a sloppy AI analysis that merely missed links to other outlets.
Allyn provided side-by-side comparisons to support his claims, including examples from an Intercept report and a Compact article. An official NPR report on the investigation was published on Sunday. Barkan, who has written for Crain's New York and The New York Times, stated in an email to NPR, 'I have written hundreds upon hundreds of columns, essays, and pieces of journalism in my career. I stand by my record.'
