For CNN, one opinion-heavy tweet is worse than plagiarism

By Becket Adams, Becket Adams

Published December 20, 2015

For CNN, a reporter tweeting out a single opinion is apparently more serious than a host plagiarizing.

CNN suspended global affairs correspondent Elise Labott for two weeks Thursday after she disregarded the network's guidelines on objectivity, and criticized Congress for passing a bill to condition the acceptance of Middle East refugees into the United States.

In contrast, CNN host Fareed Zakaria was suspended for only six days in 2012 after claims surfaced that he had plagiarized a New Yorker article for a Aug. 20 Time magazine column on gun control.

Labott's suspension, as a few journalists have noted this week, is justified because she broke clearly established rules regarding newsroom objectivity.