Time Magazine’s choice of New York’s mayor, Rudy Giuliani, as Person of the Year, is another example of Big Media’s increasing timidity.
Giuliani deserves enormous praise for his leadership in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. But this feel-good choice for Person of the Year is a mockery of what Jim Kelly, Time’s managing editor, described as the criteria for the pick in this Q&A a week ago:
“Well, the classic definition of TIME’s Person of the Year is the person who most affected the events of the year, for better or for worse.”
Giuliani? Come on. The obvious choices were Osama bin Laden and George W. Bush. Together they most affected the events of the year.
Time’s choice speaks volumes about the journalistic values at AOL Time Warner. What it says is disturbing.