‘TIME’ FOR TRUTH
‘Persons’ of year: 4 dedicated journalists
They paid the ultimate price in pursuit of truth.
Slain Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi and the journalists at the Capital Gazette newspaper were among the “Guardians” of the truth named Person of the Year by Time magazine on Tuesday.
The magazine revealed four separate magazine covers that also included two Reuters journalists arrested in Myanmar and the editor of a Philippine news website that covered its president's violent policies.
Time called the winners "The Guardians and the War on Truth."
“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.
Five members of the Capital Gazette staff were killed when a gunman opened fire in their Annapolis, Md., newsroom in June. The Gazette is part of the Baltimore Sun Media Group, which is owned by Tribune Publishing, the same company that owns the Daily News.
The victims of the attack were four journalists — Gerald Fischman, Rob Hiaasen, John McNamara and Wendi Winters — and sales assistant Rebecca Smith.
Justin Dearborn, CEO of Tribune Publishing, said in a statement, “We will never forget our fallen colleagues, and we are grateful that our staff is being recognized for their bravery, strong sense of professionalism and their dedication to honoring their lost colleagues through journalistic excellence.”
Trif Alatzas, the publisher and editor-in-chief of the Baltimore Sun, sent a note to his staff commemorating the recognition. “As Rick Hutzell, editor of the Capital Gazette, says: ‘Freedom of the press starts at the local level.' Our community news organizations hold local government leaders accountable,” Alatzas wrote in the note. The honor also resonated with the family members of those who lost their lives. “A lot of people don't understand how important what goes on in their community is to them and how it affects their quality of life — maybe until it's gone,” McNamara's widow, Andrea Chamblee, told Time, referring to the importance of community journalism. Khashoggi, the Saudi journalist, was tortured and murdered at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in October. Time had never selected a deceased person as its Person of the Year before 2018.
“It's also very rare that a person's influence grows so immensely in death," Felsenthal said of Khashoggi. "His murder has prompted a global reassessment of the Saudi crown prince and a really long overdue look at the devastating war in Yemen."
The Washington Post praised the magazine's selections of Khashoggi and the other journalists.
Maria Ressa — the founder and CEO of a news outlet, Rappler, in the Philippines — was honored for her role in the website's reporting on president Rodrigo Duterte's “propaganda machine and extrajudicial killings,” Felsenthal explained.
Ressa and her website were both indicted in the Philippines last month for tax evasion, which she and Rappler have denied committing.
Reuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were the other selections for Person of the Year. They were arrested in Myanmar last year and remain behind bars following their reporting on the execution of 10 Rohingya Muslims.