--- title: The Story Behind TIME’s 2018 Person of the Year | TIME description: A look at the history, importance, and road to TIME’s Person of the Year. canonical: https://time.com/video/Pqlh5cQA/ og:title: The Story Behind TIME’s 2018 Person of the Year og:description: A look at the history, importance, and road to TIME’s Person of the Year. og:url: https://time.com/video/Pqlh5cQA/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/Pqlh5cQA/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Story Behind TIME’s 2018 Person of the Year twitter:description: A look at the history, importance, and road to TIME’s Person of the Year. twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/Pqlh5cQA/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # The Story Behind TIME’s 2018 Person of the Year > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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Its journalism is reported and edited by a professional newsroom led by Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs, with named correspondents on politics, climate, health, technology and culture. It reaches 1 million US print subscribers and 1.15 million globally, plus more than 1.1 million newsletter readers. #### How do I subscribe to TIME magazine? Subscriptions are at time.com/subscribe-agent. Choose digital only at $20 a year, or print and digital from $29 a year or $49 for two years. TIME also publishes seven free email newsletters at time.com/newsletters, which do not require a subscription. #### Can I cancel a TIME subscription? Yes. TIME states that subscriptions can be cancelled at any time. #### Does TIME have free newsletters? Yes. TIME publishes seven free email newsletters reaching more than 1.1 million readers, covering daily news, Washington politics, health, AI, climate and energy, culture, and the newsroom itself. They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: The Story Behind TIME’s 2018 Person of the Year [Watch (HLS stream): The Story Behind TIME’s 2018 Person of the Year](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Pqlh5cQA.m3u8) (3:22)  _Published 2018-12-12. A look at the history, importance, and road to TIME’s Person of the Year._ --- Jul 28, 2023 12:57 AM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Issa Rae on the Meaning Behind Time's Person of the Year ](/video/dngLBrLo/) ### Issa Rae on the Meaning Behind Time's Person of the Year [Who's Your Pick for Time's Person of the Year?](/video/VoHZogz0/) ### Who's Your Pick for Time's Person of the Year? [Who Should Be TIME's 2010 Person of The Year?](/video/L68zaUg4/) ### Who Should Be TIME's 2010 Person of The Year? --- ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] We begin the process in the fall with a huge staff meeting in which people gather in the New York office and are patched in from around the world and they pitch all manner Of ideas. And we debate them for months. This year as we really got down to it we realized that there was a connected thread that emerged among many of the most dominant news stories and that thread was the use and abuse of information. It's been an incredibly challenging year for those who pursue the truth all over the The world. At least five dead. We're gonna jump in, there's a fire alarm here. I've seen now two ambulances arriving. Let's go back to our breaking news, Saudi Arabia confirming the death of Jamal Khashoggi. Sadly this is a- I fear that this has become or may become the new normal. So we decided rather than focus on the people are misusing it, we should spotlight the people who've devoted their lives. In some cases. This is quite literally given there for pursuing truth. They are the guardians in an increasingly important war. Saudi diplomats are retreating as the fall out of a Washington Post columnist dissapearance and suspected murder grew. We're just getting word out of Riyadh. The Saudi officials are now saying Jamal Khashoggi. Did he in fact die inside the Saudi consulate? Some numbers of congress are raising doubts that the journalist died the way the Saudi government claims The man opening fire on reporters at the news paper in an apulus merlin, at least five dead Just hours after government rampage through their news rone The dedicated staff at the Capital Gazette Company in Annapolis published their regular morning paper today. Freedom of the press is under assault after a top news site and it's CEO are charged with tax evasion. The government also tried to revoke the agency's license To operate. Two Reuters reporters are accused of breaching the country's Official Secrets Act. They could face 14 years in jail. [ MUSIC ] There's a reason that the founders made freedom of the press the very first amendment. Freedom of the press is foundational to democracy. It is essential to have basic facts upon which we can debate the right solutions to any manner of problems. There is no doubt that the increasing rhetoric Toward journalists is alarming and chilling but it's also essential to remember that the United States remains a beacon of free expression. That journalists here have greater legal protections they do perhaps anywhere else in the world. And this remains a country where a news organization can sue the White House and win with a ruling handed down by the judge appointed by that very same Same White House. With that comes great responsibility to do essential importance accountability journalism of the sort. That our colleagues elsewhere in the world who afforded fewer protections cannot. This is really about Truth, and a need to support the pursuit of it, and freedom of expression for all of us. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The Story Behind TIME’s 2018 Person of the Year ","description":"A look at the history, importance, and road to TIME’s Person of the Year.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/Pqlh5cQA/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2018-12-12T21:42:47.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Pqlh5cQA.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/video/Pqlh5cQA/","duration":"PT3M22S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/video/Pqlh5cQA/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}} ```