Time magazine has named journalists on the front lines of the "war on truth" as its "Person of the Year, it was revealed on NBC's Today show.
Representing those guardians were slain Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, Maria Ressa of a Philippine web site critical of the government, arrested Reuters reporters (in Myanmar) Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, and the Capital Gazette of Annapolis, Md., which was the target of a mass shooting.
“They are representative of a broader fight by countless others around the world — as of Dec. 10, at least 52 journalists have been murdered in 2018 — who risk all to tell the story of our time,” Time Editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal wrote of the selection.
NBC said it was the first time that someone who is dead was named one of Time's people of the year. Ironically, President Donald Trump, who has called journalists the enemy was runner up. The "person of the year" is not an accolade, per se, but a mark of influence and impact.
Trump was the Person of the Year in 2016. "This year brought forth the consequences of Trump's disruption," the magazine said of the runner-up. "The deficit soared. The stock market trembled. The voters revolted. Special counsel Robert Mueller circled closer. Trump has tested the system and exposed its weaknesses, but also revealed its strength."
