Time salutes ‘Guardians of truth’
Magazine says manipulation and abuse of facts a common thread in many of this year’s major news stories
Time magazine’s 2018 Person of the Year is “The Guardians” — four individuals and one group, all journalists, who this year helped expose “the manipulation and the abuse of truth” around the world.
They are Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post contributing columnist who was killed inside Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul in October; the staff of the Capital Gazette newspaper in Maryland; Maria Ressa, the chief executive of the Rappler news website, who has been made a legal target for the outlet’s coverage of Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte; and Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, jailed in Myanmar for nearly a year now for their work exposing the mass killing of Rohingya Muslims.
“As we looked at the choices, it became clear that the manipulation and the abuse of truth is really the common thread in so many of this year’s major stories, from Russia to Riyadh to Silicon Valley,” Time editor Edward Felsenthal said on the Today show in announcing the decision.
Of Khashoggi’s selection, Felsenthal said it was the first time the magazine had ever chosen someone no longer alive as Person of the Year. But it wasn’t so much the brutal details about his death as the work he had done most of his life — holding Saudi Arabia’s Government accountable — that solidified his legacy.
“It’s also very rare that a person’s influence grows so immensely in death,” Felsenthal said. “His murder has prompted a global reassessment of the Saudi Crown Prince and a really long overdue look at the devastating war in Yemen.”
Washington Post publisher Fred Ryan said he applauded Time for using its much-anticipated annual award to highlight journalists’ work.
“Time magazine’s choice to honour journalists who have lost their lives or the freedom to do their jobs is a powerful reminder of the critical role journalists play and the increasing dangers they face,” Ryan said. “We hope this recognition will prompt our nation’s leaders to stand up for America’s values and hold accountable those who attempt to silence journalists who cover our communities, or in Jamal’s case, an oppressive authoritarian Government.” Time also honoured the staff of the
Capital Gazette in Annapolis, where five staff members were killed in June after a gunman opened fire in their newsroom. Despite the tragedy, the
Capital’s surviving staff persisted in their work in the hours, days and weeks afterward.
“I can tell you this,” Capital reporter Chase Cook tweeted hours after the shooting. “We are putting out a damn paper tomorrow.”
Time also recognised journalists across the world.
Felsenthal said Reuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo had been imprisoned for almost exactly a year.
The two had been covering the mass killing of 10 Rohingya Muslims and had found Myanmar troops were complicit in the executions — part of a wave of killings, rapes and arson internationally condemned as ethnic cleansing of minority Muslims in the majority Buddhist country.
Police learned of their inquiry and gave the two men documents in a meeting three months after the massacre. Soon after, the reporters were arrested for possessing the documents, which they had not read, in a plot widely derided as a farce to punish them for their work — and a warning to other reporters.
Their story was published in February, as they faced charges. In September, they were sentenced to seven years in prison despite testimony from an officer that the operation was a setup.
For her work in the Philippines, Felsenthal praised Maria Ressa as an “extraordinary individual” who has relentlessly exposed the thousands of extrajudicial killings taking place as part of Duterte’s war on drugs.
Ressa has already received accolades for her work at Rappler. In June, the Committee to Project Journalists awarded her the Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award.
And just as Time announced Ressa as one of its choices for 2018 Person of the Year, Ressa was freed — at least for now. Ressa posted bail this week after tax-evasion charges seen as a thinly veiled attempt by Duterte to further silence reporters and critics.
Time magazine’s choice . . . is a powerful reminder of the critical role journalists play and the increasing dangers they face. Fred Ryan, Washington Post publisher