Time and CNN Suspend Fareed Zakaria for Plagiarism

Time magazine and CNN have suspended Fareed Zakaria, one of the icons of American journalism, for plagiarising content from another newspaper.

The celebrated foreign affairs journalist used a paragraph from a New Yorker article for his column in Time on the Colorado shooting incident. He did not acknowledge the original source.

"He wrote a shorter blog post on CNN.com on the same issue which included similar unattributed excerpts. That blog post has been removed and CNN has suspended Fareed Zakaria while this matter is under review," CNN said in a statement.

Zakaria writes a column for Time and hosts a show on CNN.

Time also issued a similar statement, saying that the magazine had accepted Zakaria's apology but that his next column has been suspended until further review.

"Time accepts Fareed'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," said Time's spokesperson Ali Zelenko in a statement.

Zakaria wrote an article for Time which bore a close resemblance to an essay by Jill Lepore that was published in the New Yorker on 23 April.

Zakaria himself admitted that the paragraph was plagiarised and has taken full responsibility.

"I made a terrible mistake. It is a serious lapse and one that is entirely my fault. I apologise unreservedly to her [Jill Lepore], to my editors at Time and CNN, and to my readers and viewers everywhere," Zakaria said in a statement.

Zakaria's Plagiarised Paragraph

"Laws that banned the carrying of concealed weapons were passed in Kentucky and Louisiana in 1813. Other states soon followed: Indiana in 1820, Tennessee and Virginia in 1838, Alabama in 1839 and Ohio in 1859. Similar laws were passed in Texas, Florida and Oklahoma."

Jill Lepore's New Yorker article

"Laws banning the carrying of concealed weapons were passed in Kentucky and Louisiana in 1813, and other states soon followed: Indiana (1820), Tennessee and Virginia (1838), Alabama (1839), and Ohio (1859). Similar laws were passed in Texas, Florida, and Oklahoma."

The Zakaria incident is the latest in a series of plagiarism scandals to hit American journalism in recent times. Just two weeks ago, the New Yorker's science writer Jonah Lehrer resigned after admitting that he fabricated quotes by Bob Dylan for his latest book, Imagine: How Creativity Works.