Time 'Person of Year' goes to Khashoggi, other journalists

Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was murdered in October at his country's Istanbul consulate, was on Tuesday named Time magazine's "Person of the Year" alongside several other journalists.

The magazine also honoured Philippine journalist Maria Ressa, Reuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo –– currently imprisoned in Myanmar –– and the staff of the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland, including five members killed in a June shooting. 

The journalists were honoured "for taking great risks in pursuit of greater truths, for the imperfect but essential quest for facts that are central to civil discourse, for speaking up and for speaking out..." the news magazine said.

Khashoggi, a critic of Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was killed two months ago at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul when he went there to collect documents for his forthcoming marriage.

On Tuesday, Turkey said it's in talks with the UN for possible international probe into the journalist's killing.

'Prolific commentator'

The Washington Post columnist, who was killed at the hands of Saudi agents in Istanbul, was described by the magazine as a "prolific commentator and critic of Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman."

"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 from Russia to Riyadh to Silicon Valley," Time's editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal said in announcing the decision.   

"We chose to highlight four individuals and one group who have taken great risks in pursuit of greater truths, starting with Jamal Khashoggi," he added.