Ruth Shalit

Ruth Shalit (/ʃəˈliːt/; born 1971), also known as Ruth S. Barrett,[1] is an American freelance writer and journalist. In 1999 she was dismissed from The New Republic following claims of plagiarism and inaccuracy.[2]

Ruth Shalit
Born1971 (age 49–50)
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.
Alma materPrinceton University
OccupationWriter, journalist
Spouse(s)Robertson Barrett (m. 2004)
RelativesWendy Shalit
Websitewww.ruthsbarrett.com

Shalit graduated from Princeton University in 1992.[3] Early in her career she wrote for GQ and the New York Times Magazine before becoming an associate editor for The New Republic at the age of 24.

She is the sister of conservative writer and author Wendy Shalit.[4] She married Henry Robertson Barrett IV in 2004,[3] becoming the stepdaughter-in-law of Edward Klein. Robertson Barrett was the Vice President of Media Strategy and Operations at Yahoo! before becoming the president of Hearst's digital division in 2016.[5]

As of 2020, Shalit lives in Westport, Connecticut, with her husband and two children.[3]

Plagiarism and inaccuracies

New Republic

In 1994 and 1995, Shalit was discovered to have plagiarized portions of several articles she wrote for New Republic.[6]

In the fall of 1995, Shalit wrote a 13,000-word piece about race relations at The Washington Post.[7] Shalit later admitted to "major errors" in the article, such as an assertion that a Washington, D.C., 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.[8]

She left the New Republic in January 1999.[9]

The Atlantic

On October 30, 2020, The Atlantic published an 800-word correction to Shalit Barrett's article "The Mad, Mad World of Niche Sports Among Ivy League–Obsessed Parents".[1] It said that the editors had learned that Shalit Barrett had deceived the magazine, its readers, and one anonymous source in a section that used information from a Connecticut mother who used "Sloane" as an alias. The note also stated that Shalit Barrett encouraged a source to fabricate personal details, then to lie to The Atlantic's fact-checking staff.[1][10][11] The Atlantic, concerned about transparency, changed the byline from Shalit Barrett's preference, "Ruth S. Barrett", to "Ruth Shalit Barrett."[1]

On November 1, The Atlantic updated the correction to announce the magazine had retracted the entire piece.[12] The update said that the magazine was "wrong to make this assignment" that "reflects poor judgment on our part", adding, "We apologize to our readers."[1] Despite the retraction, Barrett kept a link to the article on her website a month later.[13]

References
  1. Barrett, Story by Ruth Shalit. "The Mad, Mad World of Niche Sports Among Ivy League–Obsessed Parents". The Atlantic. ISSN 1072-7825. Archived from the original on October 31, 2020. Retrieved October 31, 2020.
  2. "Diversity Had Nothing to Do With Reporter's Deceit". Washington Post. May 13, 2003. Archived from the original on November 5, 2020. Retrieved October 29, 2006.
  3. Wemple, Erik (October 24, 2020). "Opinion: Ruth Shalit just wrote for the Atlantic. Would readers know it from the byline?". Washington Post. Archived from the original on October 31, 2020.
  4. "Goodbye to All That: Has former New Republic starlet Ruth Shalit left Washington in the dust--or is it the other way around?". Archived from the original on November 2, 2020. Retrieved November 2, 2020.
  5. "Robertson Barrett Named President of Digital Media for Hearst Newspapers". finance.yahoo.com. Archived from the original on November 5, 2020. Retrieved November 2, 2020.
  6. "Goodbye to All That". Washington City Paper. Archived from the original on March 25, 2019. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
  7. "American Journalism Review". ajrarchive.org. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
  8. "Bostonphoenix.com". Archived from the original on October 15, 2006. Retrieved October 3, 2006.
  9. Rosenberg, Matthew J. (March 15, 1999). "MEDIA TALK; A Writer With a Past Turns to Advertising". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on September 11, 2017. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
  10. Wemple, Erik. "Opinion | Editor's note in the Atlantic claims deception by Ruth Shalit Barrett in niche-sports story". Washington Post. Archived from the original on November 5, 2020. Retrieved October 31, 2020.
  11. DePaolo, Joe (October 31, 2020). "The Atlantic Runs Enormous and Brutal Correction on Controversial Story About WASPs: The Author 'Deceived' Us". Mediaite. Archived from the original on October 31, 2020. Retrieved October 31, 2020.
  12. Elahe Izadi; Paul Farhi (December 18, 2020). "The New York Times could not verify ISIS claims in its 'Caliphate' podcast. Now it's returning a prestigious award". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 8, 2021. The Atlantic magazine retracted a story last month about affluent parents who push their children into niche sports after it said it could not “attest to the trustworthiness and credibility of the author,” Ruth Shalit Barrett, “and therefore we cannot attest to the veracity of the article.”
  13. "Writer | Ruth S. Barrett". November 29, 2020. Archived from the original on November 29, 2020. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
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