--- title: Times Square New Year's Eve Ball Drop Honors Journalists description: Leading journalists will ring in the New Year Monday in New York City's Times Square as the annual ball drop recognizes journalism. canonical: https://time.com/5490488/new-years-eve-ball-drop-journalists/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-12-30T14:28:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-13T08:18:39.987Z article:section: Press Room og:title: Journalists To Drop New Year's Eve Ball in Times Square og:description: Leading reporters and editors will push the button that officially begins the 60-second countdown og:url: https://time.com/5490488/new-years-eve-ball-drop-journalists/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt84b478d102c21a10/69894263929fadcde8bf269a/crowd-times-square-new-years-eve.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5340 og:image:height: 3004 og:image:alt: crowd-times-square-new-years-eve og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Journalists To Drop New Year's Eve Ball in Times Square twitter:description: Leading reporters and editors will push the button that officially begins the 60-second countdown twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt84b478d102c21a10/69894263929fadcde8bf269a/crowd-times-square-new-years-eve.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Journalists To Drop New Year's Eve Ball in Times Square > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=f81add8f-6e76-412b-82cf-fe290dddaa96&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: TIME Person of the Year: The Guardians and the War on Truth [Watch (HLS stream): TIME Person of the Year: The Guardians and the War on Truth](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ynSDAmcj.m3u8) (5:16)  _Published 2018-12-11. TIME Person of the Year: The Guardians and the War on Truth_ by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Dec 30, 2018 2:28 PM UTC TIME Person of the Year: The Guardians and the War on Truth by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Dec 30, 2018 2:28 PM UTC Leading journalists will ring in the New Year Monday in New York City’s Times Square as the annual ball drop, watched globally by billions, recognizes journalism and free speech. The group of reporters and editors will appear on stage just before midnight to push the button that officially begins the 60-second countdown to the lowering of the Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball and the New Year. “In one of the world’s most famous public squares, it is fitting to celebrate free press and free speech as we reflect on where we’ve been during the past year and what it is we value most as a society,” said [Tim Tompkins, president of the Times Square Alliance, the event organizer](https://www.timessquarenyc.org/sites/default/files/resources/PR-NYE2019%5FSpecialGuest%5FPressFreedom%5FRelease%5F18-12-29.pdf). TIME Editor and CEO Edward Felsenthal will join journalists including Karen Attiah, Global Opinions Editor, The Washington Post; Rebecca Blumenstein, Deputy Managing Editor, The New York Times; Alisyn Camerota, Anchor, CNN New Day; Vladimir Duthiers, Anchor, CBSN and Correspondent, CBS News; Lester Holt, Anchor, NBC Nightly News; Matt Murray, Editor-in-Chief, The Wall Street Journal; Martha Raddatz, Chief Global Affairs Correspondent, ABCNews; Maria Ressa, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Editor, Rappler; Jon Scott, Anchor, Fox Report Weekend; Karen Toulon, Editor, _Bloomberg News;_ andJoel Simon, Executive Director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, the official charity honoree of Times Square New Year’s Eve. At least 251 journalists were imprisoned in 2018, according to the [Committee to Protect Journalists recent annual report](https://cpj.org/reports/2018/12/journalists-jailed-imprisoned-turkey-china-egypt-saudi-arabia.php). In recognition of the dangers that reporters faced and the courage they exhibited this year, TIME named four journalists, including Rappler’s Maria Ressa, and the staff of the Annapolis, Md., Capital Gazette [2018 Person of the Year](http://time.com/poy). ## Transcript [00:00] [ MUSIC ] [00:02] Who [00:04] holds government accountable not we cross these [00:08] lines we sound the alert There are now [00:14] people in power who see journalism as a threat [00:17] [ FOREIGN ] Freedom of Of the press starts at [00:21] the local level. [ FOREIGN ] It is violence, fear and lies. [00:26] We don't have the luxury to [00:30] lose our freedom. What are you gonna stand for, what [00:32] is the line that you won't cross? [ SOUND ] [ MUSIC ] [00:34] Their Philippines [00:42] is a customary tale for the United States. Duterte is an [00:46] authoritarian [ CROSSTALK ] He's an authoritarian [00:47] leader accused of a variety of human rights abuses. [00:50] Duterte pledged that he would kill a hundred [00:52] thousands filipinos. When people don't know what is [00:55] real and what is fake, the voice with the loudest [00:58] megaphone gains more power. There's no president [01:01] for what the government is doing. They just have no [01:03] idea where it will go. [ SOUND ] Mainstream [01:08] media in Vietnam are monopolize by the state. The [01:10] numer of Bloggers being setenced to very long. And [01:13] has been held after exposing a [01:22] toxic waste. [ FOREIGN ] A court in Myanmar sentenced [01:26] [ CROSSTALK ] Was sentenced to seven years in prison. [01:29] The journalist said they were framed because of their [01:31] reported of a massacre of Rohingya people. My [01:32] husband worked to expose the truth. I am teaching my [01:36] child to be proud of her father. [01:41] [ FOREIGN ] The [01:45] problem goes beyond censorship. China's massive [01:48] surveillance program. I make the decision to prohobit [01:51] this operation. Where is he? Whats happened to him? [01:54] Her husband has been detained in the Northwestern [01:57] part of the country. You can't be asking questions. If [02:00] one takes the definition of news as something that [02:03] someone wants to suppress, by definition, journalists [02:06] will be going against the interests of the [02:11] powerful. More protests are happening in Sudan. [02:13] [ CROSSTALK ] In institutions, rule of law, we lost all of [02:16] these things. Sudan is a country without laws. We are [02:20] not the [ INAUDIBLE ] you are nothing. Democrats and [02:24] Republicans alike have been criticizing president [02:26] Trump after he refused to punish Saudi Arabia over [02:30] the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi. We're [02:32] not gonna give up hundreds of billions of dollars in [02:34] orders. You have to be wilfully blind not to come to the [02:38] conclusion that the crown prince is a wrecking ball. [02:41] And it is complicit in the murder of Mr. Khashoggi. We [02:49] all learned in our schools that the journalists shouldn't [02:52] be the story itself. My government didn't like the story. [02:55] They put me in jail. I was attacked, and I'm in exile [02:59] now. The story is not written by myself Tatiana [03:05] Felgengauer was stabbed in the neck by an assailant [03:07] who breached station security and attacked her. It's [03:10] hard, but if you feel that you cannot be [03:14] anyone else, be brave, and be Here's [03:19] the moment Arkady Babchenko returned from the [03:21] dead. Well that is the journalist who was reported had [03:24] been shot [03:33] dead. [ FOREIGN ] Around 10, 000 Hungarians have [03:37] protested in Budapest against government control of [03:40] the media. Critics fear it's a sign the country is slipping [03:43] into authoritarianism. Bad situation in Venezuela [03:46] getting a whole lot worse, the Attorney General. [03:48] [ CROSSTALK ] Deadly protests riddled the streets this [03:50] summer after President Maduro rewrote the country's [03:52] constitution and banned the main opposition party. [03:57] [ FOREIGN ] [ FOREIGN ] Mexico is the most [04:09] dangerous country in [04:16] Latin America. [ FOREIGN ] [ FOREIGN ] [ MUSIC ] The [04:20] news doesn't tell the truth. They are so dishonest. [04:24] You are fake news. Explosive devices discovered in [04:26] multiple locations. We're gonna jump in there's a fire [04:28] alarm here. You might have heard it in the background [04:30] we're gonna find out what the latest. I hate being the [04:32] story, I just do. There has been a shooting at a [04:35] newspaper building in Annapolis. That put us closer to [04:38] the rest of the world in a way this horrifying but eye [04:41] opening. [ MUSIC ] [ FOREIGN ] [04:46] it's a series of small decisions that in the end bends [04:50] and breaks the rule of law. When I'm [04:54] dissapointed or pessimistic I always go to my library [04:58] And read history books. Democracy and freedom of [05:01] the press, they are fragile, but in the end they will [05:05] prevail. 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