The Atlantic says that a piece Fareed Zakaria published in TIME magazine appears to be very similar to a piece Jill Lepore published in the New Yorker back in April, with at least three different passages that share rhythms, sources, and vocabularies with Lepore's story. Zakaria did not comment when asked about the similarities, but The Atlantic says they've heard that he'll issue an apology soon.

If Zakaria finds himself in need of a job, I would like to encourage him to apply for The Stranger's Public Editor position. I'm not sure Jonah Lehrer's going to work out.

Update 11:45 am: Just got a statement from a TIME spokesperson in my inbox that reads, in its entirety: "TIME takes any accusation of plagiarism by any of our journalists very seriously, and we will carefully examine the facts before saying anything else on the matter."

Update 1:27 pm: Got another statement from a TIME spokesperson:

TIME accepts Fareed's apology, but what he did violates our own standards for our columnists, which is that their work must not only be factual but original; their views must not only be their own but their words as well. As a result, we are suspending Fareed's column for a month, pending further review.

A whole month! Boy, that'll teach 'im. And here's a statement from Zakaria:

Media reporters have pointed out that paragraphs in my Time column this week bear close similarities to paragraphs in Jill Lepore's essay in the April 23rd issue of The New Yorker. They are right. I made a terrible mistake. It is a serious lapse and one that is entirely my fault. I apologize unreservedly to her, to my editors at Time, and to my readers.

Well. That just clears everything up.

Update 2:20 pm: And here's a comment from CNN:

We have reviewed Fareed Zakaria’s TIME column, for which he has apologized. He wrote a shorter blog post on CNN.com on the same issue which included similar unattributed excerpts. That blog post has been removed and CNN has suspended Fareed Zakaria while this matter is under review.

Man, corporate synergy sure can bite you on the ass sometimes, can't it?