Journalist Suspended for Plagiarism in Gun Control Article

[Sun195]

Just saw this story - maybe gun control advocates have run out of arguments and have to reuse material?

CNN and Time Suspend Journalist After Admission of Plagiarism - NYTimes.com

Time magazine and CNN suspended Fareed Zakaria, the writer and television host, on Friday after he apologized for plagiarizing a New Yorker article in his column on gun control in the Aug. 20 issue of Time.

Some passages in Mr. Zakaria’s column, “The Case for Gun Control,” closely tracked those in a longer article on guns in America by the historian Jill Lepore, which appeared in the April 23 issue of The New Yorker.

The following passages provide an example of the repetition of Ms. Lepore’s work in Mr. Zakaria’s column:

Mr. Zakaria:

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. 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. 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.”

Ms. Lepore:

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.”

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[Grunwald]

What the professor does not mention is that open carry was the norm in those days, and those who hid their guns did it with small assasin type firearms.
It is also truethat some towns had gun bans, but that is nothing but a reminder that politicians have been ignorant of the constitution throughout the nation's history, and that in general those who seek to govern others just plain suck.

 

[Spad]

Any company with self respect would have fired Fareed.

 

[Squidly]

Nothing coming from these anti-gun nuts surprises me. After all, lies and deception are the core of their game plan.
Sq

 

[Misterbill]

This is really a sad tale as Fareed was an exceptional reporter and opinion writer.

Don't know all the facts in this case, but we seem to have lost a great voice of reason and moderation to the call of greed.

"For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." 1:Timothy

 

[Kevatc]

This is really a sad tale as Fareed was an exceptional reporter and opinion writer.

Don't know all the facts in this case, but we seem to have lost a great voice of reason and moderation to the call of greed.

I agree. Zakaria is a voice of reason, moderation, and intelligence who has a long history of doing good and balanced journalism. It is very unfortunate he didn't just cite the original quote rather than try to use it as his own.