NEW YORK POST: …Time said it was suspending [Fareed] Zakaria for one month, “pending further review,” and CNN said it had also suspended him for his journalistic misstep…
The sanctions came after Zakaria issued a public apology for borrowing from a recent New Yorker essay about gun control for a column he wrote for Time this week.
“Media reporters have pointed out that paragraphs in my Time column this week bear close similarities to paragraphs in Jill Lepore’s essay in the April 23rd issue of the New Yorker. They are right. I made a terrible mistake,” he wrote in his apology… (more)
EDITOR: This saddens us but it is not that uncommon with people who have become increasingly successful and take on too much responsibilities, forgetting that it was the time spent and concentration on tasks that led to their success. We suggest he takes a couple of months off and perhaps then research and write a book.
What I found striking, apart from the plagiarism itself, is that he lifted the material from such a high profile source like The New Yorker. The original piece was published just four months ago.
Jill Lepore, The New Yorker writer, surely would’ve read Zakharia on the same topic.
This is a capital crime in journalism. Cliches are bad; plagiarism is among the worst. This will forever stain Zakharia.
And you are right; that is very sad.
EDITOR: Yes, it is as though he wanted to end his career. He had a mental breakdown from all the pressures on him.