Time and CNN revoke Fareed Zakaria's suspension

Washington, Aug 17: The

and

today announced to revoke the suspension of Fareed Zakaria, the noted Indian American writer and journalist, who was suspended last week by both outlets for alleged plagiarism.

Following a review of the allegations of plagiarism, for which Zakaria has apologised, CNN and Time in a separate statement termed it as a "journalistic lapse" and unintentional error and announced that his popular column and the Sunday talk show would now resume.

"We have completed a thorough review of each of Fareed Zakaria's columns for Time and we are entirely satisfied that the language in question in his recent column was an unintentional error and an isolated incident for which he has apologised," Time's statement read.

"We look forward to having Fareed's thoughtful and important voice back in the magazine with his next column in the issue that comes out on Sept 7," it said.

The CNN followed suite. "CNN has completed its internal review of Fareed Zakaria's work for CNN, including a look back at his Sunday programs, documentaries and CNN.com blogs. The process was rigorous. "We found nothing that merited continuing the suspension. Zakaria has apologised for a journalistic lapse. CNN and Zakaria will work together to strengthen further the procedures for his show and blog," the news channel said.

"Fareed Zakaria's quality journalism, insightful mind and thoughtful voice meaningfully contribute to the dialogue on global and political issues. His public affairs program GPS will return on Sunday, Aug 26 on CNN/International," CNN said.

Editor-at-Large at the prestigious Time magazine, Zakaria had apologised on Aug 10, after new reports appeared in the US media that his column about gun laws for Time's Aug 20 issue includes a paragraph that is remarkably similar to one Jill Lepore wrote in April for a New Yorker article about the National Rifle Association.

"Media reporters have pointed out that paragraphs in my Time column on gun control, which was also a topic of conversation on this blog, bear close similarities to paragraphs in Jill Lepore's essay in the Apr 23rd issue of The New Yorker," he said. "They are right. I made a terrible mistake. It is a serious lapse and one that is entirely my fault. I apologise unreservedly to her, to my editors at Time and CNN, and to my readers and viewers everywhere," Zakaria had said in a statement.

Both the Time magazine and CNN accepted Zakaria's apology, but both suspended him for a month, which has now been revoked. A day earlier, The Washington Post apologised to Zakaria after the daily wrongly accused of another instance of plagiarism. "Endnotes crediting Prestowitz were contained in hardcover and paperback editions of Zakaria's book. The Post should have examined copies of the books and should not have published the article. We regret the error and apologise to Fareed Zakaria," The Washington Post said Wednesday.

PTI