Zakaria on New Attribution Problem: 'Standard Practice'

In the wake of Fareed Zakaria's plagiarism confession, the Washington Post points out another attribution problem with the journalist's work: In his 2008 book The Post-American World, Zakaria uses a quote from former Intel CEO Andy Grove that originally appeared in another book from 2005, Three Billion New Capitalists: The Great Shift of Power to the East by Clyde V. Prestowitz, a former Commerce Department official. Zakaria did not source the quote in the 2008 edition or a 2009 paperback version of his book, despite the fact that Prestowitz contacted Zakaria about it.

Prestowitz was finally acknowledged in a new, expanded version of Zakaria's book published last year. Zakaria defends himself, however, insisting in an interview that such a practice is "standard" in the world of non-fiction and that attributing the "hundreds" of comments and quotes in his book would have disrupted reading flow. "I should not be judged by a standard that's not applied to everyone else," he says. "People are piling on with every grudge or vendetta. The charge is totally bogus." Zakaria has been suspended by Time and CNN, which airs his weekly program. He also writes a Post column, which the newspaper notes will not appear this month. (More Fareed Zakaria stories.)