Khashoggi, four others chosen as Time Person of the Year
Slain Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi and a group of journalists were collectively chosen by Time Magazine as its Person of the Year on Tuesday.
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"As we looked at the choices, it became clear that the manipulation and abuse of truth is really the common thread in so many of this year’s major stories from Russia to Riyadh to Silicon Valley,” Time’s Editor-In-Chief Edward Felsenthal said in announcing the decision on the Today morning show.
"We chose to highlight four individuals and one group who have taken great risks in pursuit of greater truths, starting with Jamal Khashoggi" he added.
Khashoggi, who was murdered by Saudi agents at Riyadh's Istanbul consulate, shares the distinction with Filipina journalist Maria Ressa, Reuters journalists Kyaw Soe Oo and Wa Lone, and the Maryland newspapers, the Capital Gazette.
"The stout man with the gray goatee and the gentle demeanor dared to disagree with his country’s government. He told the world the truth about its brutality toward those who would speak out. And he was murdered for it," Time said of Khashoggi.
Saudi Arabia initially denied any role in Khashoggi's Oct. 2 disappearance before acknowledging he was murdered inside its Istanbul consulate.
RIyadh has sought to blame "rogue agents" for killing Khashoggi during a botched rendition operation, but the explanation has been met with skepticism by many, including a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers who insist the operation could not have been carried out without the knowledge of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
"His death laid bare the true nature of a smiling prince, the utter absence of morality in the Saudi-U.S. alliance and—in the cascade of news feeds and alerts, posts and shares and links—the centrality of the question Khashoggi was killed over: Whom do you trust to tell the story?" Time wrote.
That question is a common thread in all of the others Time selected.
Ressa, who helms the Philippine online news website, Rappler, has worked to chronicle the drug war being carried out by Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte and its thousands of extrajudicial killings.
The Rappler was charged in November with tax fraud allegations that could send Ressa to prison for up to a decade.
Oo and Lone, the two Reuters journalists who were selected, have been jointly sentenced to seven years in prison for their work in Myanmar chronicling the deaths of 10 Rohingya Muslims in the country.
And the Capital Gazette was targeted in June by a gunman who stormed into the Annapolis, Maryland newsroom, fatally shooting five people inside.
"This ought to be a time when democracy leaps forward, an informed citizenry being essential to self-government. Instead, it’s in retreat," wrote Time.
Khashoggi on Time Person of the Year shortlist
Jamal Khashoggi is on the shortlist of Time Magazine's Person of the Year, the publication announced Monday.
The Washington Post columnist who was killed at the hands of Saudi agents in Istanbul, was described by the magazine as a "prolific commentator and critic of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman," and is on the list alongside powerful world figures including U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Khashoggi was last seen Oct. 2 when he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to obtain papers he needed to marry his Turkish fiancee. He disappeared shortly after entering the diplomatic building as Saudi Arabia produced various, contradictory narratives to account for his whereabouts.
Riyadh eventually admitted he died in the consulate shortly after he entered, blaming his death on rogue agents -- an explanation that has come under scrutiny as pressure builds in the U.S. Congress for bin Salman, Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, to be held to account for Khashoggi's death.
Khashoggi's body has yet to be returned to his family, amid reports it was brutally dismembered and possibly dissolved in acid.
"Believed to have been murdered on the orders of the Crown Prince, his death prompted international outcry and scrutiny of the Saudi regime," Time said.
In addition to Putin and Trump, Khashoggi is vying for the honor alongside families whom Trump separated at the U.S. border in a bid to halt future illegal immigration; the director of this year's acclaimed Black Panther movie, Ryan Coogler; Special Counsel Robert Mueller, and Christine Blasey Ford, who brought sexual assault allegations against Trump's second pick for the U.S. Supreme Court.
