CNN’s Marc Lamont Hill: I Wasn’t Talking About Fareed Zakaria In My Anti-Plagiarism Tweet

Eddie ScarrySep 30th, 2014, 1:49 pm
 

When CNN contributor Marc Lamont Hill said on Twitter late Monday night that “scholars” have a “professional, ethical, and intellectual responsibility” to appropriately credit the work of others, was he talking about his citation-challenged colleague Fareed Zakaria?

He says no.

“Dear scholars,” read Hill’s full tweet from Tuesday, “Citing previous (and foundational) work is not a favor. It is a professional, ethical, and intellectual responsibility.”

I sent out the link to that tweet to my own followers on Twitter and raised the question as to whether it was a “subtweet”; meaning, was Hill referring to noted CNN host and plagiarist Zakaria without explicitly saying so?

Hill saw my tweet, despite his Twitter user handle not being tagged in it.

“No. Not a subtweet at all,” he insisted.

So, what was it, if not a passive-aggressive poke at Zakaria, who many media professionals now believe is a serial plagiarist despite a whole-hearted defense from CNN’s media reporter Brian Stelter?

“Just a directive to young scholars,” Hill said. “I think new academics sometimes miss the purpose behind thorough citation.”

We followed up to ask if he thought Zakaria has failed to follow that same directive. We’ll see if he responds.

For his part, Zakaria has denied that he has plagiarized anything and he has the backing of his employers at CNN and the Washington Post.

UPDATE — 3:18 p.m. ET:Hill, who did not see the value in his tweet being turned into a story here at Mediaite even though plagiarism in media is a serious issue, told me he has “no opinion” on Zakaria.

[Photos via CNN, HuffPost Live/screen grabs]

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