Time, CNN Suspend Columnist Zakaria (Plagiarism Charge)

Wall street Journal ^ | August 10 , 2012 | KEACH HAGEY

[lbryce]

Both Time magazine and CNN have suspended columnist Fareed Zakaria following the revelation of similarities between his recent writing for both news organizations on gun control and another reporter's writing in the New Yorker.

Newsbusters, a conservative media watchdog, flagged on Friday morning close parallels between a paragraph in an article in Mr. Zakaria's most recent column, about gun control, and an April 23 essay in the New Yorker by Jill Lepore.

Fareed Zakaria at the 71st Annual Peabody Awards in New York in May.

Mr. Zakaria issued a statement on Friday conceding "I made a terrible mistake. It is a serious lapse and one that is entirely my fault. I apologize unreservedly to her, to my editors at Time, and to my readers."

A spokeswoman for Time magazine subsequently said it accepts Mr. Zakaria's apology "but what he did violates our own standards for our columnists, which is that their work must not only be factual but original; their views must not only be their own but their words as well."

"As a result, we are suspending Fareed's column for a month, pending further review," said Ali Zelenko, a senior vice president for Communications at Time.

Mr. Zakaria, who also hosts a show on global affairs on CNN, is one of the country's most prominent public intellectuals, having served for a decade as editor of Newsweek International before joining Time magazine as editor-at-large in 2010. During the 2008 campaign, then-Senator Barack Obama was photographed carrying a copy of Zakaria's book, "The Post-American World."

Following Time's decision to suspend Mr. Zakaria, CNN made a similar move.

"We have reviewed Fareed Zakaria's TIME column, for which he has apologized," CNN said in a statement. "He wrote a shorter blog post on CNN.com on the same issue, which included similar unattributed excerpts.

[lbryce]

I couldn't be happier that it was Fareed Zakaria cited for plagiarism as leveled against him by his employers, Time, CNN.

Fareed Zakaria returned an award he received from the Anti-Defamation League due to issues related to the Ground Zero Mosque. Zakaria who is Muslim receivewd the award from the Jewish Anti-Defamatation League, the return of the award proved highly embarrassing.

Zakaria on returning the award;
I have to say I was personally and deeply saddened by the ADL's stand because five years ago, the organization honored me with its Hubert Humphrey Award for First Amendment Freedoms. Given the position that they have taken on a core issue of religious freedom in America, I cannot in good conscience keep that award.

So this week, I am going to return to the ADL, the handsome medal and the generous honorarium that came with it.

He says that in 'good conscience' he couldn't keep the award but it seems his "good conscience" didn't seem good enough to prevent him from stealing other people's material.

[fortheDeclaration]

Interesting that it took a conservative ‘watchdog’ group to expose him.

[Bender2]

Fareed Zakaria replied that he is innocent because of the spirit of CNN. Or as he says, "CNN is not only a collective propagandist... and a collective agitator, it is also a collective organiser."

Hummmmmmm? Didn't Lenin say this... in 1901?

Yes... I did!

Well, case closed. Fareed is correct. That is... CNN--

[pepsionice]

I would make this observation. Once you sign up to write a piece or column....you need to allocate a fair amount of time...not just to write the draft, but to ensure grammar is decent, and references are noted. It would have taken a minute to write in a reference to the already written piece and use a bit data from that other piece. He was in a rush, and didn’t give himself time.

Now, I’m also guessing that he’s done this dozens of times and never been caught. I suspect that CNN knows this and this one month ‘vacation’ is part of this effort to get his attention on the matter.

The interesting thing here is that Microsoft Word actually has made noting references the easiest thing in the world, and it takes barely sixty seconds to note where you got the data or reference. Once you do this....you are free and clear to write word for word and get away with it.

[Lazamataz]

Geez. Can’t they come up with their OWN leftist drivel?

[JCBreckenridge]

“I’m also guessing that he’s done this dozens of times and never been caught”

Wouldn’t doubt it. Also, I wouldn’t be so charitable as ‘he didn’t give himself time’.

[doosee]

This has been going on for a long time.. Mohammed ripped off the scriptures

[Gaffer]

Actually, it is exceedingly difficult to differentiate the times when original communist/socialist/fascist thought or just a rote recount of the official Democrat Party/Obama Administration daily talking points is required.

The reason is that these ‘spokespersons’ are not trained in original thought. Their professors saw to that.

[norwaypinesavage]

"Geez. Can’t they come up with their OWN leftist drivel?"

It's hard to come up with your own leftist drivel, when you're so stupid that you believe other people's leftist drivel.

[norwaypinesavage]

"Geez. Can’t they come up with their OWN leftist drivel?"

It's hard to come up with your own leftist drivel, when you're so stupid that you believe other people's leftist drivel.

[fortheDeclaration]

He knows that it is dishonest to take someone elses writing and not footnote it.

Lack of time is no excuse.

[DH]

Take notice: They only suspended him for a month.

Why didn’t they FIRE him? I guess we all know the answer to that.

[Perdogg]

He got removed at CNN after he suggested his new show on CNN be called “60 Minutes”.

[scooby321]

He is a Obama Adviser

[CPOSharky]

I made a terrible mistake.

"I didn't think that anyone with an IQ above room temperature would read my article be able to recognize the theft."

[depressed in 06]

When you are parroting the party line, it is hard not to plagiarize.

[tanknetter]

He is a Obama Adviser

More accurately, he's Joe Biden's speechwriter.

[MinuteGal]

The Muslim, Fareed Zakaria, was named as "one of the 100 leading public intellectuals in the world". He's been referred to as "the most influential foreign affairs commentators in the world".

Over many years, this man has had his tentacles in everything, everywhere, be it government, media, academia, international spheres, you name it.

Little by little, like this "outing" of Zakaria, it's coming out how many Islams with leftist ideological beliefs have insinuated themselves into positions of power in the upper levels of government and media propaganda outlets. The Muslim advisor/aide/confidante/shadow/girlfriend of the United States Secretary of States comes to mind as another example.

There are probably countless other radical Islamic embeds scattered around in this country's highest echelons of control over us....their backgrounds and resumes unknown to most unaware, trusting Americans until they goof up or until a rare beam of light is focused on them for other reasons.

Leni

[Spok]

Apparently Zakaria didn’t get the memo: “Don’t steal other people’s lies; make up your own.” He should heed the master-Wolf Blitzer.

[mombonn]

but what he did violates our own standards for our columnists,

LOL, I didn't know this bunch had any standards.