--- title: Behind the Scenes of TIME’s 2023 Person of the Year Issue description: This issue demonstrates how many shapes influence can take. Here’s how it came together. canonical: https://time.com/6342829/person-of-the-year-2023-editors-letter/ author: Sam Jacobs article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2023-12-06T12:47:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:03:30.548Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Behind the Scenes of TIME’s 2023 Person of the Year Issue og:description: "This issue demonstrates how many shapes influence can take." og:url: https://time.com/6342829/person-of-the-year-2023-editors-letter/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8468c5a508039420/698a42fc096a94084b6ae683/taylor-swift-person-of-the-year-ed.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2400 og:image:height: 1350 og:image:alt: taylor-swift-person-of-the-year-ed og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Behind the Scenes of TIME’s 2023 Person of the Year Issue twitter:description: "This issue demonstrates how many shapes influence can take." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8468c5a508039420/698a42fc096a94084b6ae683/taylor-swift-person-of-the-year-ed.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Behind the Scenes of TIME’s 2023 Person of the Year Issue > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Inside TIME: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Inside TIME is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. A closer look at TIME's latest cover and our most compelling stories. Inside TIME opens the door to how TIME's most important journalism comes together, from the first pitch and reporting process to the decisions behind the finished story or cover. Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs takes readers inside the newsroom, revealing the journalists, ideas and editorial choices behind the stories shaping the global conversation. It is written and edited by TIME journalists, and it is free to join at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=5eddf822-f7ed-4bdd-bada-066d4d241347&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1). ### Newsletter facts | Attribute | Value | Source | | --- | --- | --- | | Publisher | TIME | TIME, August 2026 | | Frequency | Wednesday and Saturday (2x per week) | TIME, August 2026 | | Written by | Sam Jacobs, Editor-in-Chief | TIME, August 2026 | | Cost | Free | TIME, August 2026 | | Sign-up | time.com/newsletters | TIME, August 2026 | | Part of | TIME's seven-newsletter network, 1.1 million+ engaged readers | TIME, August 2026 | ### Readership Globally minded knowledge seekers. Readers who turn to journalism to understand the world, with meaningful concentrations among educators, students, media professionals, civic institutions and knowledge workers. ### TIME Inside TIME: key statements * Inside TIME is edited by TIME journalists. 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It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ## Video: TIME Person of the Year 2023 | Taylor Swift [Watch (HLS stream): TIME Person of the Year 2023 | Taylor Swift](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ZNHPu9Wg.m3u8) (7:27)  _Published 2023-12-06. Since 1927, TIME has chosen a Person of the Year, the editors’ assessment of the individual who most shaped the headlines over the previous 12 months, for better or for worse._  by [Sam Jacobs](https://time.com/author/samuel-p-jacobs/)  ## Sam Jacobs Editor in Chief of TIME Dec 6, 2023 12:47 PM UTC  Photographs by Inez and Vinoodh for TIME  by [Sam Jacobs](https://time.com/author/samuel-p-jacobs/)  ## Sam Jacobs Editor in Chief of TIME Dec 6, 2023 12:47 PM UTC This past September, our editors and reporters gathered to debate who should be TIME’s Person of the Year. The annual staff conversation is both entertaining and contentious, as we argue about which one person or group of people, of the nearly 8 billion alive today, had the most influence, for good or ill, on the year. From that first conversation, teams of reporters set out to cover the most promising candidates. The result is the issue you hold in your hands, and the words, photographs, and videos that appear on your screens. Sam Lansky, the writer of this year’s [Person of the Year profile of Taylor Swift](https://time.com/6342806/person-of-the-year-2023-taylor-swift/), has known the singer for over a decade through his work as an editor. Earlier this fall he visited with Swift at home for her first in-depth conversation with a journalist in nearly four years. With her three Person of the Year covers, photographed by Inez and Vinoodh, Swift makes her [fourth, fifth, and sixth appearances on our cover](https://time.com/6343115/taylor-swift-covers-inspiration-inez-vinoodh). It’s been 14 years since Swift’s first interview with TIME, when the 19-year-old took questions from her tour bus on Hollywood Boulevard, brushing off concerns about trading a college experience for touring as a musician. “No matter what path you choose,” she said, “you’re going to miss something, and I don’t want to miss this.” **Read More:** [_The Inspiration Behind Inez and Vinoodh’s Taylor Swift TIME Person of the Year Covers_](https://time.com/6343115/taylor-swift-covers-inspiration-inez-vinoodh) [For the 2023 CEO of the Year story](https://time.com/6342827/ceo-of-the-year-2023-sam-altman/), Naina Bajekal and Billy Perrigo visited San Francisco to meet with Sam Altman; he spoke with TIME three times in November, both before and after Altman was removed from and returned to his position leading the world’s most influential AI company. Their profile, accompanied by portraits created by photographer Joe Pugliese, offers a detailed accounting of those tumultuous days. Sean Gregory has written or co-written all of TIME’s Athlete of the Year profiles since we first created the recognition in 2019\. For this year’s edition, [Sean interviewed and profiled Lionel Messi](https://time.com/6342417/athlete-of-the-year-2023-lionel-messi/), one of the most successful soccer players of all time. The accompanying cover image was created by illustrator (and soccer fan) Neil Jamieson. ### More From TIME **Read More:** [_Behind the Scenes of TIME’s 2023 Person of the Year Issue_](https://time.com/6342829/person-of-the-year-2023-editors-letter/) Also for this issue, Karl Vick traveled to Israel following the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre. Karl—who was previously TIME’s bureau chief in Israel—and London-based staff writer Yasmeen Serhan set out to find individuals who have made a difference supporting fellow citizens since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas War. Magnum photographer Moises Saman took portraits to accompany their stories. Photography for the issue was overseen by Katherine Pomerantz, Dilys Ng, Sangsuk Sylvia Kang, and Kara Milstein; video by Justine Simons and Alex Robson; art direction by Chelsea Kardokus, Chrissy Dunleavy, and D.W. Pine, who has now created 14 years of Person of the Year covers. Digital-audience strategy was led by Samantha Cooney, with support by Meg Zukin. Liz Murray coordinated digital production. And, working alongside Lori Fradkin, Kelly Conniff—who is marking her 11th year at TIME—oversaw the entire project. “This issue demonstrates how many shapes influence can take,” Kelly said. “To be able to include news-making interviews with Altman, Messi, and Swift, three of the most captivating people in the world, each for radically different reasons, makes this year’s Person of the Year particularly special.” ## Transcript She's been this for the light in the world this year. She brought to so many people together like a community to it's not even just hurt. It just made me feel like I wasn't alone and I wasn't crazy for feeling the way that it was feeling we grew up together. We all went through the same things together the stadium and it feels like you're with her one-on-one. Friendship bracelets are a huge part of the areas for these bracelets are so important exchanging special handmade friendship bracelet all goes back to Taylor song. You're on your own kid. So my friends and I got tickets to the arrows toward we had about two hundred bracelets made. We just couldn't stop you really just had a good time doing it. You realize 200 very slick was way too many for us to all bring in trade can actually came up with the idea to put them on at Sea until then. I went to bed. I woke up the next morning and we had over three hundred bracelets on order. It's like five six seven. I'm going to have to make sure you got done with so many we weren't expecting to get much money a couple hundred dollars at the most this morning. I ran the numbers and we're at $19,000 in sales The Heirs to his my Roman Empire, I think about it all the time every day. I hear a song. That's a great price that song. That's a good thing to put on a bracelet this business definitely keep us in touch two of us over Massachusetts the other two live in Connecticut. Now, we have to meet up and trade bracelets drop off talking with every single day. Keep making more songs Taylors. I went to the reputation tour. I was right next to a security guard. So we struck up a conversation and he told me about the gig they have a couple years later. I found some free time. So I picked up that job ultimately to try and work the Taylor Swift concert with working on the floor kind of right along the edge of her stage after night one. I made little pieces of paper that asked the audience if they could take photos of me with Taylor Swift in the background and text it to me. When she came right behind me, there were a ton of fans and I had to look at the fans by saw all of their faces light up when she gets near them and it was just a sight even if I wasn't looking at her on that date. I think the squeal is Mom. They had me Neil up on the stage and I see Taylor Swift coming to a nice Knights worth fixing Young Band to give that hat tube during the song 22. I was already working with Taylor's water up team and they approached me to do the classical order for the video for 22. The connection could she have with her fan in the moment? You are so emotional for me to see it was so beautiful. Baylor's name power so many women with her music and to me and be part of the always. I'm trying to empower women with my Craftsman and be together is so beautiful to me. I always loved you from the moment. I want to propose I wanted to do it at Taylor Swift concert. I just never thought I would you do I water the logistics of that. How long wait at the once-in-a-lifetime set the thing I was like, okay, I've got to figure out how is it going with the ring one? I need to see where exactly in the lyrics I have to kneel down to Nelly. All I could think of is what is the line? I need to go down one. Two to three weeks before the actual date of the score. Yeah. I never told him I would play the song whenever I would go to work and whenever I would come back just to make sure it's okay. This is the part that I have to mail them. You got so many different angles of the proposal and I have some of those saved as like Swifty section 326 never seen so much brightness and glitter up around all at once, but I've never been a part of such a supportive Community like that. I just knew that when I proposed to Nick I needed a letter to be a part of it because she's been such momenta simpactful person predict his whole life and as much as I love her too, it just felt like this is something I don't want Nick to remember forever. I want everything. He loves to be a part of the experience from She's been there on the hardest days of my life and she's been there for the best day of my life. 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