TIME declares journalists “Person of the Year”

World Today

Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi (L) and Ma Pan Ei Mon and Chit Su Win holding photos of their husbands, Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, named TIME’s Person of the Year 2018, are seen in this combination image of the covers which also named Maria Ressa, a Filipina journalist, and the staff of the Capital Gazette newspaper, as its “Person of the Year,” in these images released from New York, U.S., December 11, 2018. Courtesy Time Magazine/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS – THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES

Time Magazine has named journalists under attack for doing their jobs as its 2018 “Person of the Year”. They are deemed “The Guardians” of the truth by the magazine. CGTN’s Jim Spellman reports.

Time Magazine’s 2018 Person of the Year award goes to journalists around the world journalists targeted for their work — a group Time has dubbed “The Guardians.” ­

There are four different covers:

-Jamal Khashoggi – the Washington Post columnist brutally murdered in October at the Saudi Consulate in Turkey.

-The staff of the Capital Gazette – a small newspaper outside Washington where a gunman stormed the newsroom killing five employees last June.

-Maria Ressa, CEO of Rappler, an online news site that chronicles the violent drug war in the Philippines. She has been arrested for tax evasion — charges she claims are meant to punish her for reporting that is critical of the government.

And on this Time Magazine cover, the wives of Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo hold separate photos of their husbands – Reuters journalists jailed in Myanmar for breaking that country’s official secrets act. They claim the arrest was a set up — intended to silence their reporting on the Rohingya crisis.

“This year’s ‘Person of the Year’ are ‘The Guardians and the War on Truth.’ It’s a group of journalists who, simply by doing their jobs, are standing up for some of the most essential values on which we all depend — facts, the pursuit of truth, and the fight against misinformation,” said Ben Goldberger, Time Magazine Assistant Managing Editor. 

Time began the “Person of the Year” tradition in 1927 and has featured world leaders like Deng Xiaoping and Winston Churchill. Most U.S. presidents – including Donald Trump- have graced the cover. In recent years, the magazine has chosen groups like “Ebola Fighters,”  “Whistleblowers” and “Peacemakers.”

The publishers hope this year’s edition will empower journalists around the world.

“One of the big themes we’ve seen this year is questions about truth and a surge in misinformation. And we want to highlight the role that journalists play in providing facts which we think of as the basis of civil discourse,” said Sam Jacobs Time Executive Editor.