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 his thinks of journalists’ lives, or 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.
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