New York Magazine has terminated its relationship with columnist Ross Barkan following an internal investigation into allegations of plagiarism, the publication confirmed Friday. The magazine’s editorial review found that Barkan “did not adhere to our editorial standards,” leading to the amendment of 67 past columns to include proper attribution for language, information, and/or sourcing that was previously missing. “We have updated our archives to include proper attribution in all of the stories that our review found previously inadequate, noting that those updates were made, and are committed to addressing any other instances that come to light,” a statement from New York Magazine read. The publication expressed regret that the work did not meet their standards and apologized to the writers whose work was not properly attributed, announcing, “Upon conclusion of the review, we have determined that we will no longer publish his column.” The controversy ignited in May when Washington Post reporter Drew Harwell accused Barkan of lifting content from his report on Ben Shapiro and The Daily Wire for one of his columns. Following Harwell’s public highlighting of the similarities, New York Magazine updated the piece with an editor’s note crediting The Washington Post. Further instances of potentially unattributed passages were identified by NPR correspondent Bobby Allyn, who found similar phrasing and descriptions in Barkan’s work that echoed reports from The Intercept and Compact Magazine. Allyn noted that some paragraphs contained identical sequences of words or nearly identical passages with minor alterations. Initially, Barkan defended himself, telling Fox News Digital that he “did not plagiarize anyone” and that the accusations were “ridiculous.” However, in a statement regarding the termination, Barkan acknowledged that “there were times I should have been more careful with citation” and apologized for these errors, stating, “I’m sorry about these errors and will work to do better, more careful in the future.” Barkan also indicated plans to launch a new column in September.
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