- Title: Time magazine names U.S. President-elect Trump Person of the Year
- Date: 7th December 2016
- Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (DECEMBER 07, 2016) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) BEN GOLDBERGER, ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITOR AT TIME, SAYING: "So we broke with tradition this year, our second runner up was Hillary Clinton, the candidate that he beat in the race that actually mattered, but lost to in the popular vote. We have never ever had a losing presidential candidate as a runner up before, but we felt that the nature of her candidacy and this year in particular, really justified her presence on the list. And then third is the hackers, which is not a single person but a group, because it spoke to the rise of something that had been brewing for quite some time but had been something of a more minor concern among cyber security, cyber defense experts. And this year really exploded into a very major concern both for individual privacy and as we saw for nation states."
- Embargoed: 22nd December 2016 14:18
- Keywords: Donald Trump Time magazine person of the year Trump Hillary Clinton Clinton
- Location: NEW YORK, NEW YORK + MOUNT PLEASANT, SOUTH CAROLINA, UNITED STATES
- City: NEW YORK, NEW YORK + MOUNT PLEASANT, SOUTH CAROLINA, UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Reuters ID: LVA0085BVXRGN
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Time Magazine has named U.S. President-elect Donald Trump Person of the Year on Wednesday (December 07), citing the upheaval in American politics brought about by the election campaign and victory of the New York businessman.
"For 90 years, Time has named the person who's had the greatest effect on the world and the news for good or for ill," said Ben Goldberger, assistant managing editor at Time. "This year I think it is unquestionable that that is Donald Trump. Now the debate over whether that's for good or ill is far, far less clear. But the reason we chose President-elect Trump is because not only is he now the leader in waiting of the free world, which is inherently a powerful position, one can make a very strong argument that every year that person deserves consideration. But it's also the manner in which he did it, which is essentially exploding virtually every traditional path to the presidency, upending American norms of civility and discourse and reordering the entire political process and anticipating a much larger shift in the global political order as well."
"It's a great honor, it means a lot," Trump told NBC's "Today" show in an interview shortly after the announcement.
"I think he feels personally quite vindicated but it's really important remember that Person of the Year is not a trophy," said Goldberger. "It isn't something to be hung on somebody's mantle. It has gone to a number of people who don't necessarily represent what we think of as the good in society. And while there are a lot of people, certainly the majority of the Electoral College who believes that Trump represents a kind of change that America needs, more than half the country at least judging by the popular vote, find him to be an incredibly destructive and even potentially dangerous force. So we certainly don't see this as an award."
Time said its short list included Trump's rival in the 2016 presidential race, Democrat Hillary Clinton, as well as hackers, "which is not a single person but a group, because it spoke to the rise of something that had been brewing for quite some time," said Goldberger.
The magazine noted Trump's eclectic career as real estate magnate and reality television star before winning the highest office in the land. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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