"(We have) completed a thorough review of each of Fareed Zakaria’s columns ... 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 apologized."
-- Time Magazine on its decision to reinstate Fareed Zakaria after he admitted and took responsibility for a column in the magazine that plagiarized a recent article in the New Yorker
You know, I like Fareed -- he's a pretty bright guy. But I'm not sure I've ever read anything more thoroughly full-of-shit than the above quote from Time. The fact that he wrote a column that featured a good portion of language stolen, almost word for word, from somebody else's material is either "an unintentional error" or "an isolated incident" he needed to apologize for. It can't be both.
For the record, you have no idea the grammatical hoops news managers jump through when they're forced to write retractions. An ostensible admission of guilt is one of those things that's carefully crafted and then not touched by any of the underlings who might screw it up after the lawyers go over it and deem that it covers the outlet's ass legally without actually apologizing for doing anything wrong. I'll call what Time did a kind of retraction. And as usual it's a sight to behold -- a masterful example of unmitigated bullshit.
By the way, a lot of great quotes today so there will be more to come.
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