On Thu, Aug 16, 2012 at 4:05 PM, Kevin M.
<drunkba...@gmail.com> wrote:
Well I'm sure he learned a valuable lesson. If you don't check your
work, you'll get a week's paid vacation.
No, I think This sounds about right. I have to take their word for it on the results
of the review, not being in a position to check all of his published
and broadcast materials for unattributed dependence on other sources,
but assuming this is accurate Zakaria has been given a fairly harsh, but
defensible, punishment for his mistake. The blow to a guy like Zakaria is not the threat to his income, but the mark on his reputation. Like him or not (I agree with him somewhat more than I disagree with him), his meat and potatoes is a kind of smarter than thou, cleaner than thou, above the frayism, and that mantle took a heavy hit. To fire him, or give an even
longer suspension just for the one incident that has been reported would
be an overreaction, and put every news program, paper and magazine in
an untenable position, as the number of well known pundits and "experts"
who employ a similar practice as Zakaria, and are at least constantly
at risk for making the same mistake, is quite high. I am slightly
disappointed, but not surprised, that CNN and Time and WaPo, and others,
did not take the opportunity to revise guidelines and standards for
contributors, both insisting that they do more of their own work, and
that they cut back on their workload (a hospital that employs doctors 80
hours a week can not really act shocked when the doctors make a
mistake, or take short-cuts, due to overwork). I suspect Zakaria at
least will be keeping a closer eye on his in-house production line, and
others in his situation who are prudent will also, at least for a while.
I have not been tracking commentary on Zakaria's situation, but I
suspect there must be at least a few conservative pundits who might be
expected to pile on who have been surprisingly mild or silent, all too
aware of how easily they could be, and still might yet, be in his shoes.