Time Magazine just named their Person of the Year for 2018 — or rather, Persons of the Year. Instead of laying down the title on just one individual’s shoulders, Time chose a body of people. Among those is Rappler’s very own Maria Ressa.
The group referred to as ‘The Guardians’, are honored for the brave journalism they pursued throughout the year despite figurative targets and tangible attacks. Joining Maria Ressa are Jamal Khashoggi, Wa Lone, Kyaw Soe Oo, and the Capital Gazette.
What they have in common is the experience of persecution as journalists. Jamal Khashoggi was a Washington Post contributor who was killed in Istanbul. The Capital Gazette similarly had a number of their journalists gunned down in Annapolis, Maryland. Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo are two journalists imprisoned for their work on the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar.
Maria Ressa is, of course, the chief executive of Rappler. While she has been under fire since the beginning of the Duterte administration, it was only recently that she was indicted on charges of tax evasion. She, like all the other personalities, stand tall in protecting media as the Fourth Estate.
These individuals are celebrated not because of their struggles but because of their “efforts to undermine factual truth, and […] honestly seek it out, [which] calls into doubt the functioning of democracy.”
What are your thoughts on Time Magazine’s Person of the Year for 2018?Â
