If you have ever been a fan of Fareed Zakaria and have seen him at work on CNN, surely you will be as surprise as I am in Zakaria committing plagiarism. Mr Zakaria is one of the brightest lights over at CNN, always providing intriguing news reports from a unique angle, but despite his smart approach to providing stimulating news, Zakaria did something so stupid which we are all taught by our college and university professors not to engage in, plagiarism.
You know, its natural for us all to make mistakes, but Fareed Zakaria committing plagiarism is not a mistake and we are shocked he would engage in this act. In a recent article, The Case for Gun Control which Zakaria wrote for Time Magazine, it was detected by folks in media circles that some paragraphs in Zakaria’s article was almost identical to the article written by Jill Lepore’s posted on April 22 in the New Yorker. Check out the samples of the writing styles below, Zakaria vs Lepore‘s, which he is accused of copying the author’s work:
Zakaria’s writing:
“Adam Winkler, a professor of constitutional law at UCLA, documents the actual history in Gunfight: The Battle Over the Right to Bear Arms in America. Guns were regulated in the U.S. from the earliest years of the Republic 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. As the governor of Texas (Texas!) explained in 1893, the “mission of the concealed deadly weapon is murder. To check it is the duty of every self-respecting, law-abiding man.”
And now Lepore’s:
“As Adam Winkler, a constitutional-law scholar at U.C.L.A., demonstrates in a remarkably nuanced new book, Gunfight: The Battle Over the Right to Bear Arms in America, firearms have been regulated in the United States from the start. 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. As the governor of Texas explained in 1893, the “mission of the concealed deadly weapon is murder. To check it is the duty of every self-respecting, law-abiding man.”
Not only did Zakaria copy Lepore’s work and not give her credit for it, he did something that is a big no, no, as part of his employment agreement with the New York Times, he didn’t provide an original piece of work. When it was brought to his attention that he copied Jill Lepore’s work, Zakaria did not deny the resembles in work, saying:
“They are right. 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 Timeand to my readers.”
And Time’s response:
“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. As a result, we are suspending Fareed’s column for a month, pending further review.
Zakaria has his own show on CNN, Fareed Zakaria GPS, but amid the reports of plagerism, CNN has also taken action against Zakaria, here is what the network had to say:
“We have reviewed Fareed Zakaria’s Time column, for which he has apologized. 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.”
Thoughts ?
Via Huffington Post
