HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Ruth Shalit Barrett (; born 1971) is an American freelance writer and journalist whose work has appeared in ''
The New Republic ''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hu ...
'', ''
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'', ''ELLE'', ''New York Magazine'' and ''
The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
''. In 1999 she resigned from ''
The New Republic ''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hu ...
'' following claims of plagiarism and inaccuracy. In 2020, ''The Atlantic'' retracted an article she wrote for them after it emerged that she had lied to the magazine's fact-checking department. Shalit Barrett graduated from
Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...
in 1992 and had her journalistic debut with ''Reason'' that same year. Soon after, she was offered an internship at ''
The New Republic ''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hu ...
''. Shalit was considered to be an up-and-coming young journalist throughout the 1990s after she was promoted to an associate editor position at ''
The New Republic ''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hu ...
'', writing cover stories for the political weekly. She also wrote for the ''New York Times Magazine'' and had a $45,000-a-year contract to do pieces for '' GQ''. She is the sister of conservative writer and author
Wendy Shalit Wendy Shalit (; born 1975) is an American conservative writer and author who has written the books '' A Return to Modesty: Discovering the Lost Virtue'', published by Free Press in 1999; '' Girls Gone Mild: Young Rebels Reclaim Self-Respect and F ...
. She married Henry Robertson Barrett IV in 2004, becoming the stepdaughter-in-law of
Edward Klein Edward J. Klein (born 1936) is an American author and former foreign editor of ''Newsweek'', former editor-in-chief of ''The New York Times Magazine'' (1977–1987). He has written about the Kennedys, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, ...
. Robertson Barrett was the Vice President of Media Strategy and Operations at
Yahoo! Yahoo! (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web services provider. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and operated by the namesake company Yahoo Inc., which is 90% owned by investment funds managed by Apollo Global Manage ...
before becoming the president of Hearst's digital division in 2016. As of 2020, Shalit lives in
Westport, Connecticut Westport is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, along the Long Island Sound within Connecticut's Gold Coast. It is northeast of New York City. The town had a population of 27,141 according to the 2020 U.S. Census. History ...
, with her husband and two children.


Plagiarism and inaccuracies


''New Republic''

In 1994 and 1995, Shalit was discovered to have plagiarized portions of several articles she wrote for ''New Republic.'' In the fall of 1995, Shalit wrote a 13,000-word piece about race relations at ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
''. Shalit later admitted to "major errors" in the article, such as an assertion that a
Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, contractor who had never been indicted had served a prison sentence for corruption; misquoting a number of staffers; and numerous factual errors, such as mistakenly claiming that certain jobs at ''The Post'' were reserved for Black employees. She left the ''New Republic'' in January 1999.


''The Atlantic''

In 2020, ''
The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
'' assigned and published an article Shalit wrote as a freelancer, "The Mad, Mad World of Niche Sports Among Ivy League–Obsessed Parents". The article, published online in October 2020 and in its November 2020 print issue, exposed efforts of the affluent residents of the Gold Coast of Connecticut to use niche sports to give their already-privileged children further advantages in the competitive admissions process at elite colleges and universities. After questions were raised by ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'''s media critic,
Erik Wemple Erik Wemple is an American journalist who works as a columnist and media critic at ''The Washington Post''. He was formerly the editor of the alternative weekly ''Washington City Paper''. Early life Wemple was raised in Niskayuna, New York, and a ...
, the magazine appended several corrections along with a lengthy editor's note to the online version. Ultimately, on November 1, 2020; ''The Atlantic'' retracted the entire article, but uploaded a PDF of the article's print version for the sake of "the historical record." According to the note, it had emerged after the article was published both in print and online that Barrett had not only lied to ''Atlantic'' fact-checkers and editors, but encouraged at least one source to lie about having a son–all of which left no remedy short of a full retraction. The note also revealed that Barrett requested her byline read "Ruth S. Barrett," but that "in the interest of transparency," her maiden name was now spelled out in the byline. ''The Atlantic'' added that it had given Shalit this story in the belief that her past work in reputable publications merited a second chance after the plagiarism scandals of two decades earlier. However, the editors now realized that they were "wrong to make this assignment" that "reflects poor judgment on our part." On January 7, 2022, Shalit sued ''The Atlantic'' and Don Peck (the ''Atlantic'' print editor at the time of the retraction) in federal court for $1 million in damages, arguing that her reputation had been "unlawfully smeared" by the retraction and accompanying editor's note.Ruth Shalit Barrett sues Atlantic for $1 million over retraction of viral article, allegations of inaccuracies
by Bryan Pietsch, ''The Washington Post''. January 9, 2022. Accessed January 9, 2022.
''The Atlantic'' stood by both and rejected her allegations, describing the lawsuit as "meritless."


See also

*
Claas Relotius Claas-Hendrik Relotius (born 15 November 1985) is a German former journalist. He resigned from ''Der Spiegel'' in 2018 after admitting numerous instances of journalistic fraud. Early life Relotius was born in Hamburg, and grew up in Tötensen w ...
*
Jayson Blair Jayson Thomas Blair (born March 23, 1976) is an American former journalist who worked for ''The New York Times''. He resigned from the newspaper in May 2003 in the wake of the discovery of fabrication and plagiarism in his stories. Blair publi ...
*
Stephen Glass Stephen Randall Glass (born September 15, 1972) is an American paralegal who previously worked as a journalist for ''The New Republic'' from 1995 to 1998, until it was revealed that many of his published articles were fabrications. An internal i ...
*
Journalism scandals Journalism scandals are high-profile incidents or acts, whether intentional or accidental, that run contrary to the generally accepted ethics and standards of journalism, or otherwise violate the 'ideal' mission of journalism: to report news eve ...
*
Schön scandal The Schön scandal concerns German physicist Jan Hendrik Schön (born August 1970 in Verden an der Aller, Lower Saxony, Germany) who briefly rose to prominence after a series of apparent breakthroughs with semiconductors that were later discovered ...
*
Fake news Fake news is false or misleading information presented as news. Fake news often has the aim of damaging the reputation of a person or entity, or making money through advertising revenue.Schlesinger, Robert (April 14, 2017)"Fake news in reality ...


References


External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Shalit, Ruth American women journalists 1971 births Journalistic hoaxes Living people The New Republic people People involved in plagiarism controversies Princeton University alumni Writers from Milwaukee Journalists from Wisconsin 20th-century American journalists 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American journalists 21st-century American women writers