Updated
Time magazine has named journalists, including a
slain Saudi Arabian writer and a pair of Reuters journalists imprisoned
by Myanmar's Government, as its Person of the Year for 2018, in a cover
story headlined "The Guardians and the War on Truth".
Key points:
- Last year's winners were "The Silence Breakers" of the #MeToo movement
- Time magazine has named the Person of the Year since 1927
- Finalists for this year included a mix of politicians, activists — and one Royal
The "guardians" are Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi; the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland, where five people were shot and killed at the newspaper's offices in June; Philippine journalist Maria Ressa, who has been arrested; and two Reuters journalists detained in Myanmar for nearly a year, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo.
The group of journalists will feature on four covers of the magazine's January issue.
In an essay for the magazine, editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal said Time selected the journalists "for taking great risks in pursuit of greater truths, for the imperfect but essential quest for facts that are central to civil discourse, for speaking up and speaking out".
Mr Felsenthal added: "Like all human gifts, courage comes to us at varying levels and at varying moments.
"This year we are recognising four journalists and one news organisation who have paid a terrible price to seize the challenge of this moment."[The journalists] are representative of a broader fight by countless others around the world — as of December 10, at least 52 journalists have been murdered in 2018 — who risk all to tell the story of our time."
The Person of the Year winner is the person or group of people who embody the passing year — for better or worse.
While Time magazine's editors make the final decision, an online poll has been conducted since 1998 to assess public sentiment about potential winners.
US President Donald Trump, who was chosen Person of the Year in 2016, was second runner-up.
"His ultimate impact may be determined as much by the resistance he engenders as by the goals he pursues," the magazine said.
Robert Mueller, the FBI Special Counsel investigating Russia's alleged meddling in the 2016 US presidential elections, was third runner-up.
Finalists for this year also included Christine Blasey Ford, the US academic who accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of historic abuse, the March For Our Lives activists from Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, and the families separated at the US border under a Trump administration policy aimed at deterring illegal immigration.
Russian President Vladimir Putin was on the list after his landslide victory in the country's 2018 elections, along with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who made the list after brokering an historic meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Mr Trump.
Ryan Coogler, who directed Black Panther — the biggest movie of the year — featured on the shortlist, as did newly-minted royal Meghan Markle.
Time magazine has identified the Person of the Year since 1927. This was the first time someone named was no longer alive.
Last year's winners were "The Silence Breakers" — the thousands of people across the world who came forward with their experiences of sexual harassment and assault as part of the #MeToo movement.
ABC/wires
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