Bin Laden as Person of the Year? Editors agonize

Associated Press

NEW YORK — There’s no question he has captured newspaper headlines for days on end and impacted millions of lives, but should Osama bin Laden be Time magazine’s Person of the Year?

While the decision won’t be announced until this morning, editors at Time had to weigh several considerations in making their selection this week, including the likelihood of a strong reader backlash.

Choosing bin Laden would undoubtedly anger many people and could lead to canceled subscriptions.

At the heart of the decision, though, must be the criteria set out by Time founder Henry Luce: "the person or persons who most affected the news of our lives, for good or ill, this year."

Time spokeswoman Debra Richman declined to specify this year’s list of candidates, but she did say that the selection would in "some way" reflect the events of Sept. 11.

In addition to bin Laden, readers of Time’s Web site have nominated candidates including President Bush, New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and the rescue teams of New York.

Time has faced similar quandaries in the past, and has occasionally selected unpopular leaders, including Hitler and Stalin. However, both of those selections were made before the full extent of either man’s ruthlessness became known to the world at large.

In selecting Hitler for 1938, the year before he invaded Poland, Time called him the "greatest threatening force that the democratic, freedom-loving world faces today."

Likewise, Time twice chose Stalin — in 1939 and again in 1942, while World War II was still raging and Stalin was standing up to Hitler.

Time also picked Iranian Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979, leading thousands of people to cancel their subscriptions, Richman said.

Two years ago, Time’s selection process also generated controversy when it became known that Hitler was among several candidates the magazine was considering as Person of the Century.

In the end, Time chose Albert Einstein as Person of the Century, followed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Mohandas Gandhi.

Copyright ©2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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