Salon.com > Person of the Year

Sarah Palin: TIME is irrelevant – after all, I was on “Person of the Year” list too

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 14:07:00 +0000

On Fox News last night, Sarah Palin admitted some skepticism about the relevancy of TIME magazine, which named President Obama as "Person of the Year," because, she said, she was also on that list.

"I think there's some irrelevancy there, to tell you the truth," Palin told Greta Van Susteren. "I mean consider their list of the most influential people in the country and the world, some who have made that list -- yours truly! That ought to tell you something right there regarding the credence that we should give TIME magazine and their list of people."

The comments about TIME are around the 4:20 mark:

Obama pretends to be caught in Spider-Man’s web

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 18:04:00 +0000

President Barack Obama maintained his Internet-cool image when his team released this official White House photo, also featured in the online Time Magazine spread that named Obama Person of the Year:

[embed_tweet id="281419850553896961"]

The photo was taken in the Outer Oval Office on Oct. 26, 2012. In this case, Spider-Man is a White House staffer's son.

Time names Barack Obama as Person of the Year

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 13:45:00 +0000

Time Magazine has named President Barack Obama as the Person of the Year for 2012. Managing editor Rick Stengel, who made the announcement on the Today Show this morning, explained that Obama is more than a political icon--he has ushered in a cultural change at a crucial turning point in America.

Although Obama is just beginning his second term, Time notes that his re-election itself affirms America's transformation. Stengel penned the introduction in the magazine's upcoming issue, in which he which he writes:

"In many ways, Barack Obama is the 21st century version of this new American. But he’s more than just a political figure; he’s a cultural one. He is the first President to embrace gay marriage and to offer work permits to many young undocumented immigrants. There has been much talk of the coalition of the ascendant — young people, minorities, Hispanics, college-educated women — and in winning re-election, Obama showed that these fast-growing groups are not only the future but also the present. About 40% of millennials — the largest generational cohort in U.S. history, bigger even than the baby boomers — are nonwhite. If his win in 2008 was extraordinary, then 2012 is confirmation that demographic change is here to stay."

"Obama is the first Democratic President since FDR to win more than 50% of the vote in consecutive elections and the first President since 1940 to win re-election with an unemployment rate north of 7.5%."

Time readers pick Kim Jong Un as “Person of the Year”

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 16:23:00 +0000

In advance of its "Person of the Year" issue, Time magazine took an informal poll to find out who readers wanted to see get the top honor, and 5.6 million people said Kim Jong Un.

From Time:

This doesn’t mean Kim is TIME’s Person of the Year. That choice is made by the editors of TIME and will be revealed Dec. 19 on the Today show, on TIME.com and via TIME’s Twitter handle. The poll allows readers to weigh in on the people—and things (Hello, Curiosity Rover!)—whom they think influenced the news, for better or worse, in 2012.

“While we don’t make our selection based on the poll results,” said TIME executive editor Radhika Jones in a recent interview, “it’s always interesting to see where some of our preferred candidates end up.” (For more on how TIME editors choose the Person of the Year see our full Q&A with Jones here)

This continues Kim Jong Un's streak of winning meaningless awards this year, following his selection as The Onion's Sexiest Man Alive.