I had a feeling that Jamal Khashoggi would be Time Magazine’s Person of the Year. I also thought they would tie Khashoggi to the larger conversations about journalism and journalism’s role in the current era. My reasoning was that journalists love to recognize other journalists, and the whole “fourth estate protecting itself” thing is even more important right now, with Donald Trump’s fascism and the Trumpian war on truth in general. Trump has literally radicalized American terrorists and provided them a roadmap to target media outlets which criticize him. And Trump’s reaction – or non-reaction – to the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi has been part and parcel of how little he thinks of journalists’ lives and the media’s role in society.
So there you go – Time Magazine’s People of the Year are “The Guardians.” Jamal Khashoggi, Maria Ressa (a journalist in the Philippines being targeted by the Duterte government), the staff of the Capital in Maryland (who were targeted by a gunman just months ago), and Reuters reporters Kyaw Soe Oo and Wa Lone (who are in prison in Myanmar right now). You can see Time Magazine’s cover package here.
Based on the shortlist, we also knew who the “runners-up” would be – Donald Trump and Robert Mueller:
See why U.S. President Donald Trump was named as a runner up for TIME's Person of the Year 2018 #TIMEPOY https://t.co/VSLCRjE4X9
— TIME (@TIME) December 11, 2018
See why Special Counsel Robert Mueller was named as a runner up for TIME's Person of the Year 2018 #TIMEPOY https://t.co/oWEw7ij2Mo
— TIME (@TIME) December 11, 2018
Covers courtesy of Time Magazine.
Great choice. Never let them forget what was done to him and how this administration has put a target on journalists’ lives for telling the truth. Shine that light brightly! And you know it irks tRump to come in 2nd to the fake news and be in the same group as Mueller.
For those of you that haven’t seen it, here’s Joshua McKerrow’s recent tweet about his murdered colleagues at the Capital Gazette, N.B., you will cry. https://twitter.com/joshuamckerrow/status/1070898889757212672
I cry just thinking about it.
Indeed, I cried, and the comments/replies made me cry — especially the remembrance of Adam Ward and Allison Parker, WDBJ7 cameraman and reporter murdered while on air during the morning news cycle. Allison’s BF is now a VA state delegate, fighting for the light.
Great choice for this year, freedom of the press and the journalists who risk their lives for it must be honored and protected.
And Mueller will be a great choice for next year. 2019 is going to be a bumpy ride for Dump & co.
Wonderful choice. I’m very moved.
+1
Perfect choice. Although you know who will go all out in discrediting Time, if he hasn’t already.
The idiot keeps forgetting it isn’t a prize. That people get named Person of the Year for the impact they had that year, good or bad. Someone should make this clear to him with colourful flowcharts and pictures of previous “winners” like Hitler and Stalin.
You’re probably right. This is a great pick though.
This choice was necessary on this new scary reality, we still have the jornalists desapering in venezuela, the jailed ones and facing process in russia, the jornalists in brazil being threathened and attacked by the new facist racist ellected president, the jornalists in dangerous in turkey, and so one.
In fake news era write and report true it is a dangerous activity
Terrific and important choice.
Excellent choice. Lu Guang was recently taken by police and no one has heard from him. He’s a famous Chinese photographer who was in Xinjiang to document the concentration camps that have been set up by the Chinese government to “reprogram” the majority-Muslim population there. There may be up to 800,000 people incarcerated there. I believe all journalists have been banned from the region.
Thanks for mentioning this
I like it and I’m really, really glad it wasn’t something frivolous, such as royalty/entertainment. It’s much easier to be philanthropic when your life isn’t on the line and you have lots of $$ to back it up, not to take anything away from those people, but it is a bad time for journalists and journalism in general right now.
Great choices! I love the fact Time did this ❤
When Trump hears this he will go out of his mind…………..Oh wait
Yaaaas!!!!!
Crazy MBS really thought he could order this murder and no one would care. After all his buddy Trump hates the press. The alarm bells should have gone off when he kidnapped and imprisoned his own family as a power grab.
I for one was shook when he forced the President of Lebanon to abdicate. At first I thought it was a joke since it barely got any mention or outrage from the US press. Which I still found rather odd and suspicious. Lebanon is not that big but we have focused on stories before about small countries especially with such intrigue. I feel like at the time the US press was too busy pushing the story of how young, handsome MBS was allowing women to drive! (Major eye roll).
This is a really good choice by Time. The dotard ‘s war on the press is probably what scares me the most about him and his entire regime. If we lose freedom of the press we are so screwed.
I’m with you. His effed up war on the press has been one my major sources of rage and distress.
Same.
I have forwarded every article about this on Twitter to Nagini. She and her husband helped in the murder of Khashoggi and she needs to feel consequences
The caption on the photo of all the Time magazine covers says “Chris Pratt looking muscular after a 5 hour workout session”…maybe get this changed?
Good grief….what is this People magazine?!
Wonderful choice. My husband was a journalist for many years.
This is such a good choice, and I like the breadth of journalist they showed. I was happy the Annapolis Capital-Gazette victims were included. Local newspapers have been closing for many years now, and what happened there is just another example of how the rhetoric against the fifth estate has deteriorated our society. The Capital is a small town local newspaper, where new journalist hone their craft and older journalist go to a nice town to finish their careers. The people employed there are just normal people not making a ton of money. The paper had declining revenues for years and was sold several times in the last few years, and they had moved out of their larger building into just an office park building across from the mall. It held mostly medical offices. It was definitely a bit less secure. I realize the man who killed all these people was mentally ill, and the reporter who angered him by writing a story he felt was inaccurate, didn’t even work there anymore, but I can’t help but think this journalist are the enemy of the people rhetoric didn’t have an impact on his decision to act now. Just like the teaching profession has become dangerous, it’s sad that working for a local newspaper which was generally less stressful and more fun and covers high school sports and local events is now life threatening too. We need to change this now!!!
This was a perfect choice. I was hoping it would be Khashoggi. His murder made him a stronger voice in death which is bittersweet and horribly ironic. The Annapolis murders were just miles from my house which really shattered the community. This wasn’t just a perfect choice, it feels like a necessary choice.
Thank GOD. This is such an important issue. I’ve been so angry for so long–since faux media surfaced years ago. I took six college courses in journalism as it interested me, and there’s a long history of ethical reporting and the importance of integrity within professional journalism. There’s a huge difference between tabloids and true journalistic investigations. Bravo Time. Thank you.
So many bad things have happened this year, I forgot all about the Capital Gazette shooting. What a world we live in.
I’m from Germany, and whenever people from other countries ask me “How did that happen?” (about WW2, and let me tell ya, it comes up a lot), my first response is: “One of the first things that happened: the powers that be undermined the freedom of press and discredited / incarcerated journalists”.
Great choice Times 👏