Talk:Neil Barsky
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Request by subject to update page and fix incorrect information
[edit]I would like to add the correct birth date which is January 1, 1958 and add the following links to my articles
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/07/business/media/marshall-project-neil-barsky.html
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/series/death-by-diabetes--america-s-preventable-epidemic NeilBarsky58 (talk) 19:15, 9 December 2024 (UTC)
- @NeilBarsky58 I don't see a birthdate at The Guardian, and the New York Times is paywalled. —C.Fred (talk) 19:18, 9 December 2024 (UTC)
- Similarly, there doesn't appear to be a birth date or a mention of age in the NYT article. Mme Maigret (talk) 04:54, 30 May 2026 (UTC)
COI request to change page – 1 of 2026
[edit] | This edit request by an editor with a conflict of interest was declined. |
- What I think should be changed (include citations):
Neil Barsky is an American journalist, former hedge fund manager, prison abolitionist, filmmaker, and philanthropist, most notable for making the 2012 film Koch and for founding The Marshall Project, a journalism nonprofit intended to shed light on the United States criminal justice system, as well as to promote prison abolition.[1] Barsky is Jewish and attributes his support for social justice to his Jewish schooling and upbringing.[2]
Barsky pursued his undergraduate studies at Oberlin College and obtained a graduate degree in journalism at the Columbia Journalism School.[1]
Change to:
Neil Barsky is an American journalist, former investment manager, filmmaker, and social entrepreneur most notable for his coverage of Donald Trump's collapsing real estate empire for The Wall Street Journal, making the 2012 film Koch, and founding The Marshall Project, a journalism nonprofit intended to shed light on the United States criminal justice system.[1]
- Why it should be changed:
Barksy is not a prison abolitionist, and the claim is uncited. His educational background is listed in the attached box and does not need to be repeated. His religion is more appropriate for a "Personal Life" section at the bottom of the page.
- References supporting the possible change (format using the "cite" button):
[2] Abraham Kenmore — Paid Editor Romanova Censor 20:52, 15 May 2026 (UTC)
- Romanova Censor I revised the lead albeit before looking at your proposed changes but I believe they've been addressed. Can we consider this request resolved? Mme Maigret (talk) 04:34, 30 May 2026 (UTC)
References
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Propose rewriting the Career section as follows: JournalistBarsky's interest in journalism was sparked by a high school documentary film project he worked on about the Boston busing desegregation project of 1974.[1][2] He attended the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. In 1986, he started as a reporter, working the business desk at the New York Daily News. In 1988, he moved to The Wall Street Journal, where he covered real estate and the gaming industry. He left the Journal in 1993 for a career in finance, where he would remain until 2009.[3] Barsky reported extensively on the business career of 45th President Donald Trump from 1985 to 1991, mainly for The Wall Street Journal and The Daily News.[4] He interviewed Trump dozens of times over the course of his journalistic coverage.[5] In 1991, Barsky won the Gerald Loeb Award for Deadline and/or Beat Writing for his "Coverage of the Collapse of Donald Trump's Financial Empire" while at The Wall Street Journal.[6] In August 2016, during Trump's presidential campaign, Barsky wrote a piece for The New York Times about his experience covering Trump as a businessman.[7] He recounted when Trump was "on the brink of financial ruin" and noted that he was a "walking disaster as a businessman for much of his life" but also stated that he was "a skilled negotiator with an almost supernatural ability to pinpoint and attack his adversaries’ vulnerabilities, as several of his Republican primary opponents discovered."[8] Barsky also disclosed that he stopped covering Trump in 1991 after accepting two free tickets to a boxing match sponsored by Trump in what he called “an act of bad judgment.” A Trump employee tried to use the incident to end Barsky’s career; Barsky’s editors supported him but agreed Barsky would no longer cover Trump[9] Trump threatened to sue Barsky multiple times over the course of his journalistic coverage, though he never followed through. [10]Trump wrote of Barsky in his 1997 book, Trump: The Art of the Comeback, "Of all the writers who have written about me, probably none has been more vicious than Neil Barsky of The Wall Street Journal."[11][12] He also wrote, "I have heard that Barsky is rated a world-class poker player, and perhaps he is."[13] Hedge fund managerBarsky began working as a research analyst for Morgan Stanley in 1993, initially working on real estate investment trusts. In 1998, Barsky and fellow Morgan Stanley alumnus Scott M. Sipprelle began a hedge fund named Midtown Research.[14] Barsky participated in the fund until 2002, when he and Sipprelle split amicably.[15] Sipprelle subsequently became a venture capitalist, and in 2010, he was a Republican candidate for the House of Representatives. In 2002, Barsky opened his own hedge fund, Alson Capital Partners, which was named after his children, Alexandra and Davidson.[16][17] The fund made successful investments in Sears Holdings and shorted newspaper and furniture companies. It also left the housing sector in early 2006 before the burst of the housing bubble, although in 2005 Barsky had written that he thought there was no bubble.[18][19] [20] After correctly predicting the popularity of the Atkins diet, the fund shorted Panera Bread and Krispy Kreme.[21] At its peak, the fund would have $3.5 billion in assets under management.[22] At the end of May 2009, Barsky shuttered the fund, saying the business "became a little less fun."[23] The fund returned capital to investors.[24][25] Alson's former chief operating officer said that Barsky ensured all employees had equity and received generous severance packages so that the closure did not cause any of their lives financial ruin.[26] Between August 1998 and March 2009, Barsky's hedge funds achieved annualized returns of 12.1% after fees. The stock market's annualized return was −3.3% over the same timeframe, according to a letter Barsky sent at the time.[27] Return to mediaIn 2009, after shutting down his hedge fund, Barsky returned to journalism. Barsky had been skeptical of journalism's almost-exclusive reliance on advertising for revenue, a skepticism that also informed his decision to short newspaper companies while operating his hedge fund.[28] As founding chairman of the board of overseers of the Columbia Journalism Review, he encouraged the organization to play an important role in developing new business models. He similarly pushed the nonprofit Youth Communications, on whose board he sat, to think about what projects would financially sustain the organization.[29] Barsky's interest in new journalism models would eventually lead him to found The Marshall Project, named for Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.[30] It launched with former New York Times executive editor Bill Keller as the first editor in chief in 2014. FilmmakerBarsky produced and directed Koch, a documentary shown at festivals in 2012 (and theatrically released in February 2013) about the role that former New York City Mayor Ed Koch played in transforming the city in the 1980s.[31][32][33] The film received "generally favorable" reviews according to Metacritic,[34] with a Wall Street Journal review saying "Koch the man was inseparable from the city he loved, and 'Koch' the film makes the point without belaboring it."[35] Barsky was co-executive producer of the documentary Knuckleball! as well as director of the short documentary Witnesses NYC and the Koch episode of the documentary TV series POV.[36] Journalistic coverage of Rikers IslandFollowing numerous revelations about dire conditions in the New York City jail complex, Barsky wrote an opinion piece for The New York Times titled "Shut Down Rikers Island" (July 19, 2015).[37] In the piece, Barsky argued that
In this piece, Barsky later made the case that "the closing of the country's most notorious jail would serve as a powerful message" for national criminal justice reform.[39] In March 2017, then-mayor Bill de Blasio announced his support for plans to close the Rikers Island complex through reducing the number of inmates from 10,000 to 5,000 and establishing a system of smaller jails in all five boroughs. These plans were released by an independent commission studying Rikers Island, created by City Council speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito.[40][41] Previously, in February 2016, de Blasio had called the idea of shutting down Rikers Island a "noble concept" but described it as unrealistic due to the cost.[42]
These proposed edits fix a number of issues with the current article:
Add to the bottom of the article, replacing the current section titled The Marshall Project:
The Marshall ProjectThe Marshall Project is a nonprofit journalism organization founded by Barsky and covering issues related to criminal justice in the United States.[43][44]In his byline for an op-ed for The New York Times in November 2013, Barsky stated that he was working on The Marshall Project, with a one-sentence description and a link to a preliminary website.[45] Barsky was inspired to start the outlet by reading The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander and Devil in the Grove by Gilbert King, the latter of which covered Thurgood Marshall’s work as an attorney for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. He hired former New York Times executive editor Bill Keller as the first editor-in-chief in February 2014.[46][47][48][49][50] The Marshall Project officially launched in November 2014.[51][52][53] Alongside other supporters, Barsky contributed $1 million a year for the first two years to help with the launch.[54] In 2017, Barsky spoke as part of TEDxSanQuentin about his winding career to criminal justice reform and how to make people care about the issue.[55] The Marshall Project often collaborates with other outlets, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and NPR.[56] The Marshall Project won its first Pulitzer Prize in 2016 for a collaboration with ProPublica for a story about how police failed to adequately investigate rape.[57] In 2021, it won a second Pulitzer for a series on the use of police dogs produced with AL.com, IndyStar, and the Invisible Institute.[58] In 2021, Barsky announced that he would be stepping away from The Marshall Project. In a farewell to staff, he wrote, "It is easy to become numb to brutality, dehumanization and racism. Marshallers: May we never lose our sense of outrage."[59] Post Marshall Project[edit]Since leaving The Marshall Project, Barsky has continued reporting and writing for various outlets. In 2023, he wrote an opinion piece for The Guardian on how he used diet changes to reverse his type 2 diabetes.[60] In 2024, he followed with a reported series titled "Death by diabetes: America's preventable epidemic," also for The Guardian.[61] Since 2021, he has also written columns for The Marshall Project, Vital City, and The New York Times.[62][63][64][65] Personal life[edit]Barsky is Jewish.[66] He is married to Sabiha Al Khemir,[67] an expert in Islamic art and the founding director of the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar.[68] }}
The changes improve add important missing information, as the article currently ends with the founding of The Marshall Project and does not note either its subsequent accomplishments or Barsky's departure. It also notes his professional work in the five years since leaving The Marshall PRoject. The addition also adds information on Barsky's wife and information on his faith, which is more appropriate for "Personal life" than in the introduction of the article.
References
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Abraham Kenmore — Paid Editor Romanova Censor 23:27, 15 May 2026 (UTC)
- Romanova Censor I don't think most of these changes should be made. It contains a lot of fluff for one but also the Marshall Project isn't the subject of the page. Refer to the changes subsequently made to page. Mme Maigret (talk) 04:48, 30 May 2026 (UTC)
- Thanks — appreciate your perspective Abraham Kenmore — Paid Editor Romanova Censor 19:49, 30 May 2026 (UTC)