The New York Times said it unearthed only one instance in which arts reporter Carol Vogel “improperly used” material from Wikipedia without attribution even as new plagiarism allegations against her surfaced.
“The Inside Art column on July 25, about a planned exhibition of the works of the Renaissance painter Piero di Cosimo, started with a description of the artist’s life and eccentricities,” according to the editor’s note the paper posted late Wednesday afternoon.
“That passage improperly used specific language and details from a Wikipedia article without attribution; it should not have been published in that form. (Editors learned of the problem after publication of a post on MediaBistro’s FishbowlNY.)”
Meanwhile, Art News pointed to several other questionable instances where, it claims, Vogel’s words closely resemble previously published sentences without attribution.
Art News suggested that Vogel cribbed from her own co-worker, Bruce Weber’s 2008 obituary of writer David Foster Wallace, to describe Wallace’s book “Infinite Jest.”
It also offered up evidence that she lifted language from a Museum of Modern Art’s calendar listing in 2013 on the work of artist John Cage.
Even before the plagiarism allegations, Vogel appears to have made herself an easy target for rival art writers.
In a November 2013 “Modern Notes” piece for Blouin ArtInfo, Tyler Green had this to say about Vogel: “Among other journalists, New York Times reporter Carol Vogel is about as unpopular as can be. Why? For one, she routinely runs stories other writers and publications broke first, and presents them as her own.”
The Times’ public editor, Margaret Sullivan, also weighed in on the matter Wednesday and debated whether it was a one-off — which, she said, should warrant a minor rebuke — or part of a larger pattern of plagiarism.
“In the case under review at The Times, an isolated instance of rewriting Wikipedia is not, in my opinion, a firing offense,” wrote Sullivan. “Something like that probably warrants a written warning or a short suspension. (By the way, I have no vote on this as public editor, and no involvement in the process.)
“But a widespread pattern is a different matter altogether — other possible instances have been pointed out at the website ARTnews. I’ll update this post when I know more.”
The Vogel incident comes less than a week after BuzzFeed Editor-in-chief Ben Smith fired political writer Benny Johnson after a review of some 500 articles found 41 instances of apparent plagiarism.
“Painful as it was for all involved, Ben Smith did the right thing last week,” said Sullivan. “At The Times, the stakes are even higher.”
Vogel did not return a call or an e-mail seeking comment.