Jamal Khashoggi and ‘The Guardians’ named Time Person of the Year 2018

Slain Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi and other journalists, dubbed “The Guardians and the War on Truth,” are Time’s Person of the Year for 2018, the magazine announced Tuesday.

“As we looked at the choices, it became clear that the manipulation and abuse of truth is really the common thread in so many of this year’s major stories.” TIME Editor-in-Chief @efelsenthal explains the decision for choosing the Guardians as 2018 Person of the Year pic.twitter.com/SzBmb8R41x
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) December 11, 2018

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The magazine hailed Khashoggi, who was critical of the Saudi regime and is believed to have been killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, for daring “to disagree with his country’s government.”

Explore>> PHOTOS: Time’s Person of the Year since 1998

"His death laid bare the true nature of a smiling prince, the utter absence of morality in the Saudi-U.S. alliance and — in the cascade of news feeds and alerts, posts and shares and links — the centrality of the question Khashoggi was killed over: Whom do you trust to tell the story?" Karl Vick wrote in Time's cover story.

Explore>> See the magazine covers here

TIME’s 2018 Person of the Year is… “The Guardians and the War on Truth.” pic.twitter.com/fyMlpUQ5Ph
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) December 11, 2018

Time also honored other journalists, including the following:

Maria Ressa, a Filipina journalist known for criticizing Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte;
Reuters' Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, who were jailed in Myanmar while covering the slayings of 10 Rohingya Muslims;
The staff of the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland, where a gunman killed five employees in June.

President Donald Trump took the No. 2 spot, while special counsel Robert Mueller came in third, the magazine said.

TIME Editor-in-Chief @efelsenthal talks the second and third picks for @TIME’s 2018 Person of the Year:

#2: President Donald Trump

#3: Robert Mueller pic.twitter.com/zg775U11KD
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) December 11, 2018

Here are the other finalists who made the shortlist:

Families separated at the border
Russian President Vladimir Putin
"Black Panther" director Ryan Coogler
Christine Blasey Ford, who testified against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh
March For Our Lives activists led by students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida
South Korean President Moon Jae-in
Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex