Even though readers selected Julian Assange as TIME magazine’s Person of the Year, Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg, “who finished 10th in the online poll,” was selected by the magazine.
TIME managing editor Richard Stengel defended the decision to feature Zuckerberg on its cover as Time Person of the Year, Yahoo News reported. “I think there’s a kind of short-term-ism in people’s thinking,” Stengel is quoted as saying. Time “‘Person of the Year’ is something I look at as a choice for the ages, not just a choice for the last six weeks.”
According to Yahoo News, Stengel explained that Zuckerberg was chosen over Assange because he thinks Zuckerberg will have more of a long-lasting effect than Assange.
“I think Assange will be a footnote five years from now,” Stengel said.