At a time when weekly print magazines have struggled to remain relevant in the media landscape, the marketing hype over the purely ceremonial distinction has continued to create fanfare for Time.
The tradition goes back to 1927, when Time named the aviator Charles A. Lindbergh its first man of the year, as the honor was then called. The magazine, which began publishing in 1923, has bestowed the distinction on presidents, peacemakers, astronauts, popes and Queen Elizabeth II, on American women and the endangered earth. But some of the newsmakers chosen turned out to be infamous; Time selected Adolf Hitler in 1938 and Joseph Stalin in 1939, a distinction that was given to Stalin again in 1942.
Time has noted that its selection process is not a popularity contest, however. Its choice reflects “the person or persons who most affected the news and our lives, for good or ill,” the magazine said in 2014.
Last year, Time named the young climate activist Greta Thunberg its person of the year, choosing her over House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Mr. Trump, the Ukraine whistle-blower and the Hong Kong protesters.
The choice of Ms. Thunberg, who sailed across the Atlantic in an emissions-free yacht before her speech last year at the United Nations Climate Action Summit, rankled Mr. Trump. The president called the nod to Ms. Thunberg “ridiculous” on Twitter.
In 2018, the magazine selected a group of journalists that included the murdered Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi as its person of the year. The magazine said it wanted to underscore the threats faced by independent journalists at a time of so much disinformation. The journalists included the staff of The Capital Gazette newspapers in Maryland, where five people were shot dead in June 2018.
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/11/business/media/time-person-of-the-year-joe-biden-kamala-harris.html
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