Time Person of the Year

Overview

Time Person of the Year is a special issue published annually by the American news magazine Time featuring an extensive profile of an individual, a group, and sometimes an object, that is deemed exceptionally influential or newsworthy. Since its inception in 1927, the magazine's end-of-year issue itself has grown into an influential barometer of power, including many controversial figures in modern history, “for better or for worse.”

Background

In 1927, editors of the news magazine selected Charles Lindbergh as the cover for the magazine's first "Man of the Year" edition (shown below).

Developments

1982: Machine of the Year

In 1982, the personal computer was selected as "Machine of the Year" as the first non-human to receive the title, beating rival candidates United States President Ronald Reagan and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

“There are some occasions, though, when the most significant force in a year’s news is not a single individual but a process, and a widespread recognition by a whole society that this process is changing the course of all other processes. That is why, after weighing the ebb and flow of events around the world, TIME has decided that 1982 is the year of the computer.”

1999: Person of the Year

In 1999, "Man of the Year" was changed to the gender-neutral title "Person of the Year," with Amazon founder and CEO Jeffrey Bezos selected as the year's winner.

2006: You

In 2006, Time chose "You" as Person of the Year in recognition of those who contributed to user-generated websites, including Wikipedia, YouTube and various social media platforms (shown below). Additionally, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez won the Time reader's poll with 35% of the votes, who was not mentioned in the announcement.

The editor's choice was widely criticized as gimmicky, including pundit Paul Kedrosky who denounced the decision as a "cop-out." On December 18th, blogger Kevin Friedl posted a screen captured image of The Dude looking in a Time "Man of the Year" mirror from the 1998 comedy film The Big Lebowski in a post mocking the year's Person of the Year edition (shown below).^[1]

The following day, The Atlantic^[4] published an op-ed by writer David Graham, who lamented those "ironically listing 'Time Person of the Year, 2006' in Twitter bios."

2007: Vladimir Putin

In 2007, Russian President Vladimir Putin was selected as Person of the Year.

2008: Barack Obama

In 2008, United States President-elect Barack Obama was selected Person of the Year.

2009: Ben Barnanke

In April 2009, 4chan users raided Time's "World's Most Influential Person" poll, voting Christopher Poole (a.k.a. "Moot") to the top ranked spot and spelling the phrase "marblecake also the game" vertically out of the first 21 nominees. On December 16th, Time announced that Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke had been selected as Person of the Year (shown below).

2010: Mark Zuckerberg

In 2010, Facebook founder and CEO "Mark Zuckerberg": was selected as Person of the Year (shown below).

2011: The Protester

In 2011, the magazine ran "The Protester" as Person of the Year in recognition of various global protest movements, including the Arab Spring, the Tea Party movement, Occupy Wall Street and the Indignants Movement.

2012: Barack Obama

In November 2012, 4chan users launched a campaign to vote in Kim Jong-Un as the Time Person of the Year (shown below, left). In December, Time selected United States President Barack Obama as Person of the Year for a 2nd time since 2008 (shown below, right).

2013: Pope Francis

In 2013, the 266th Pope of the Catholic Church Pope Francis was named Person of the Year (shown below).

2014: Ebola Fighters

In 2014, Time announced that "Ebola Fighters" would be recognized as person of the year, reffering to health care workers who prevented the spread of the ebola virus across West Africa.

2015: Angela Merkel

In 2015, German Chancellor Angela Merkel was selected as Person of the Year in recognition of her leadership in both the Greek debt crisis and the European migrant crisis.

2016: Donald Trump

On December 7th, 2016, Time revealed that United States President-elect Donald Trump was named Person of the Year.^[3]

That day, Redditor Nfgiven submitted a post announcing the results to the /r/The_Donald subreddit,^[6] where it gained over 236,600 votes (54% upvoted) and 1,300 comments in six hours. Meanwhile, activist Shaun King tweeted the Trump magazine cover along with editions recognizing Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin and Vladimir Putin (shown below). That day, "Person of the Year" became a trending topic on the social networking platform.^[7]

The same day, voting ended for the online readers' poll selecting the Person of the Year, showing Bernie Sanders in the lead with 10.2% of the vote (shown below).^[2]

2018: The Guardians and the War on Truth

On December 11th, 2018, Time published an announcement titled "The Guardians and the War on Truth," revealing that Jamal Khashoggi, Maria Ressa, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo and the journalists of the Capital Gazette were named Person of the Year. The journalists were recognized for facing oppression, arrest and violence.

That day, posts about the announcement reached the front page of the /r/worldnews^[8] and /r/news^[9] subreddits. Also on December 11th, a Twitter Moments page titled "TIME Person of the Year 2018: The Guardians" was created by Time, highlighting the various journalists recognized.

Search Interest

External References