New York Magazine columnist Ross Barkan is facing plagiarism accusations after multiple journalists and editors pointed to similarities between his reporting and previously published articles, prompting the magazine to launch an internal review of his work.
The controversy started Thursday when Washington Post reporter Drew Harwell accused Barkan of closely copying portions of a May 9 article focused on Daily Wire co-founder Ben Shapiro. Harwell said Barkan’s New York Magazine piece contained passages that strongly resembled language and framing from the Washington Post report. After the issue gained attention online, New York Magazine quietly updated Barkan’s article with an editor’s note crediting the Post.
Here's a lesson for reporters out there. When you are writing a story, don't email at 11:24 p.m. and threaten someone for comment about a story you publishing "tonight." It's deeply unserious. @BobbyAllyn's been doing this a long time, and it sure doesn't show.
— Ross Barkan (@RossBarkan) May 17, 2026
Even then, Harwell indicated the explanation did not fully resolve the matter.
“I’m not entirely sure what happened,” Harwell wrote after highlighting the similarities.
The situation escalated when NPR correspondent Bobby Allyn identified additional examples in Barkan’s previous work that appeared to mirror language published by The Intercept and Compact Magazine. According to Allyn, some of the overlapping passages involved historical summaries and contextual sections that contained nearly identical wording.
“The paragraphs in question are summarizing the historical background or context of the stories, with some instances containing the same 30 words in a row, or near identical passages with a word or phrase slightly tweaked,” Allyn reported.
.@RossBarkan copied my lede almost word for word. @BobbyAllyn found other questionable passages, and @NYMag is reviewing his work. Now Ross says it's "one of the dumber controversies imaginable" and "you become a target after a while when you do this" pic.twitter.com/Yn6nV9DQjZ
— Drew Harwell (@drewharwell) May 17, 2026
As scrutiny intensified, New York Magazine confirmed it had opened a broader examination into Barkan’s past reporting.
“In light of the report, we will be conducting a review of the writer’s prior work,” the publication said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
Barkan has forcefully denied wrongdoing. He insisted he “did not plagiarize anyone” and dismissed the accusations as overblown and politically fueled social media drama. Over the weekend, he repeatedly defended himself on X while criticizing the journalists covering the story.
“Here’s a lesson for reporters out there,” Barkan wrote Saturday. “When you are writing a story, don’t email at 11:24 p.m. and threaten someone for comment about a story you publishing ‘tonight.’ It’s deeply unserious.”
He also argued that the allegations involve only a tiny fraction of his overall output.
“Between Crain’s and New York Magazine in the last calendar year, I have published something like 150 columns,” Barkan wrote. “A story is currently being written about 3. One was updated with proper citation, and the other two had proper citations already.”
So @RossBarkan heavily plagiarized a @rojasrjuand article in Compact. He claims that this is a-ok because he linked to Juan’s article. No. That isn’t how it works.https://t.co/Z5JWqohMwt
— Matthew Schmitz (@matthewschmitz) May 16, 2026
Barkan continued by calling the controversy “one of the dumber controversies imaginable.”
But the backlash did not slow down. Harwell publicly stood by his accusations, stating that Barkan had copied his “lede almost word for word.” Compact Magazine editor Matthew Schmitz also weighed in, accusing Barkan of “heavily plagiarizing” Compact writer Juan David Rojas.
“He claims that this is a-ok because he linked to Juan’s article,” Schmitz wrote. “No. That isn’t how it works.”
The internal review at New York Magazine is now likely to determine whether the accusations amount to sloppy attribution, poor editorial standards, or something far more damaging for one of the publication’s high-profile columnists