Washington, Aug 11 (ANI): Time Magazine columnist and CNN host columnist Fareed Zakaria has apologized after being suspended by the TV channel and the magazine for copying another author's material for his own column and blog.

Zakaria apologized 'unreservedly' to Harvard University professor, Jill Lepore for plagiarizing her work in The New Yorker.

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 22nd issue of The New Yorker. They are right, Zakaria said in a statement to The Atlantic Wire.

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, he added.

According to Politico, Zakaria's column about gun laws for Time's August 20 issue includes a paragraph that is remarkably similar to one Jill Lepore wrote in April for a New Yorker article about the National Rifle Association.

Time Magazine, in an earlier statement, stressed that it 'takes any accusation of plagiarism by any of our journalists very seriously.'

It added that it would carefully examine the facts before saying anything else on the matter.

Zakaria was, however, suspended from CNN and Times despite apologising for the mistake. (ANI)