Time Magazine Person of the Year 2018 recognises journalists

Killed and imprisoned journalists – “The Guardians” – have been named 2018’s “Person of the Year” by Time.

The magazine featured four different covers with journalists who have been targeted for their work this year.

They include Jamal Khashoggi who was killed in the Saudi embassy in Turkey.

Staff from Capital Gazette, the US newspaper where five people were killed, are featured, along with Maria Ressa of the Philippines and the wives of Myanmar’s Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo.

Time said they 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”.

Jamal Khashoggi was a well-known Saudi journalist and vocal critic of the Saudi Arabian leadership. He disappeared after entering a Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October.

The Saudi authorities have admitted he was killed inside the building on the orders, they say, of rogue intelligence officers.

Mr Khashoggi had been in self-imposed exile in the US, from where he wrote a column for the Washington Post. He was in Istanbul seeking documentation so he could marry his Turkish fiancee.

The suspect had a longstanding grudge against the newspaper after unsuccessfully suing it for defamation in 2012, investigators later said.

Despite the horror that unfolded in their workplace, staff worked in the car park to put out an edition the next day. As well as publishing the obituaries of their colleagues, they left the editorial page blank with a note saying they were speechless.

Former CNN journalist Maria Ressa founded her online news site Rappler in the Philippines in 2012, and it has since gained a reputation for hard-hitting, investigative journalism.

It has been openly critical of President Rodrigo Duterte, questioning the accuracy of his public statements, particularly over his deadly war on drugs.

Mr Duterte has labelled the site’s reports as “twisted” and banned its political reporter from entering the presidential offices.

In January this year, Rappler had its licence revoked by the state, igniting a national debate about press freedom.

This November, Maria Ressa and her news site were accused of tax evasion – something she said was a “clear form of continuing intimidation and harassment”.

Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, both citizens of Myanmar, were sentenced to seven years in jail in September for violating a state secrets act.

It stemmed from their work in September 2017 investigating the murders of 10 Rohingya men by the army in the northern Rakhine village of Inn Dinn.

The two journalists were arrested in December 2017 while carrying official documents they had been given by two police officers. They have always maintained their innocence and say they were set up by the police.

The case has been widely seen as a test of press freedom in Myanmar.

Aung San Suu Kyi, who was once seen as a beacon of human rights and democracy, has faced international condemnation for her government’s handling of the case.

She defended the verdict saying the two journalists had broken the law and that their conviction had “nothing to do with freedom of expression at all”.

Last year, the magazine named “the Silence Breakers” – women and men who spoke out against sexual abuse and harassment – as its “Person of the Year”.

This year’s readers’ poll chose Korean pop band BTS as their winner, with Planet Earth coming second.

The magazine’s tradition – begun in 1927 as “Man of the Year” – recognises the person who “for better or for worse… has done the most to influence the events of the year”.

The great majority of people selected have been individuals – but by no means all. In 2014, “Ebola fighters” were recognised while in 2011 “The Protester” acknowledged the significance of the so-called Arab Spring.

“The American fighting-man” was chosen that year, and was followed by the Hungarian people in 1956 and later on Scientists, Americans under 25 and Mr and Mrs Middle America.

In 2006, the Person of the Year was simply “You”, with a mirror cover design, reflecting the importance of user-generated internet content.