Meet 'The Guardians': 'Time' Person of the Year recipients

Time magazine's Person of the Year for 2018 was awarded to persecuted journalists around the world, including Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi writer and government critic killed in his country's consulate in Istanbul.

Under the headline "The Guardians and the War on Truth", Khashoggi appears as one of the four magazine front covers that recognise journalists targeted for their work.

The prestigious award recognises an individual, group, movement or phenomenon that the US magazine believes has made the biggest impact on the world that year.

This year, the theme focuses on persecuted journalists and was sparked, the magazine wrote, by a single question: “Whom do you trust to tell the story?”

Alongside Khashoggi, Time singled out Maria Ressa, 55, an online news website editor in the Philippines,for coverage of President Rodrigo Duterte and his brutal war on drugs; the staff of daily newspaper Capital Gazette who were shot and killed by a gunman in the US in June; Myanmar's two young Reuters reporters Kyaw Soe Oo and Wa Lone, sentenced to seven years in jail for documenting the deaths of 10 Rohingya Muslims; and numerous others. It pointed to the 262 media professionals imprisoned in 2017, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, as well as the increasingly difficult reporting environment many newsrooms are facing around the world and the increasing prominence of social media and the combined rise in fake, false and misleading news.

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Read more

The report that led to two Reuters journalists being jailed in Myanmar

'He wrote because he loved his country': Jamal Khashoggi obituary

The Capital Gazette mass shooting

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Time has handed out the award every year since 1927, and,as well as celebrating world leaders or celebrities, it has often provided a thought-provoking, provocative or surprising take on global affairs. As well the likes of former US president Barack Obama, civil rights campaigner Martin Luther King Jr and former Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev, the magazine has also awarded influential events and people in the headlines for the wrong reasons, such as Ebola, Adolf Hitler, 9/11 and Ayatollah Khomeini.

The runners-up for the award were US President Donald Trump; separated families of migrants; Russian President Vladimir Putin; Robert Mueller, who is leading investigations into Russian interference into US elections; Ryan Coogler, screenwriter and director of the movie Black Panther; Christine Blasey Ford, the "unassuming university professor" who captivated the US after accusing a Supreme Court nominee of sexually assaulting her; March for Our Lives anti-gun campaigners led by survivors of a school shooting; South Korean President Moon Jae-in; and former actress Meghan Markle, who married Britain's Prince Harry.

Khashoggi, a former government adviser turned self-exiled critic, was killed shortly after arriving at the Istanbul consulate on October 2. His murder dominated the global news for weeks as details emerged in a barrage of leaks and statements. His body has still not been located.

The Saudi government has arrested a dozen officials they say worked as part of a rogue cabal that acted without the knowledge of the leadership.