Jamal Khashoggi is the right TIME Person of the Year – for all the wrong reasons

TIME magazine has lost relevance, in the United States and globally. The only thing it is now known for is its Person of the Year issue, the 2018 edition of which was out on Tuesday. Historically, its editors have chosen ‘the person or thing that had the greatest impact on the news, for good or ill – guidelines that leave them no choice but to select a newsworthy – not necessarily praiseworthy – cover subject.’ If only that ambiguous sentiment had determined this year’s choice: killed and imprisoned journalists. The magazine calls them ‘The Guardians’, who were chosen ‘for taking great risks in pursuit of greater truths, for the imperfect but essential quest for facts, for speaking up and for speaking out’.

Leaving aside the question of what exactly is the difference between ‘speaking up’ and ‘speaking out’ – further proof if it were needed of the detrimental impact of a massive wave of editorial layoffs at the magazine – we can all agree that a number of the journalists highlighted on the four different covers of the latest issue fall into the ‘for good’ category.