# Does TIME magazine notify POTY honorees in advance ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 25, 2017, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-time-magazine-notify-poty-honorees-in-advance/802633 "2017-11-25T00:02:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Warm\_blood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/df705f/32.png) [@Warm\_blood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Warm_blood)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-time-magazine-notify-poty-honorees-in-advance/802633/1 "2017-11-25T00:02:17Z")
I mean it’s probably safe to assume that [this particular fellow](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/934189999045693441) is bullshitting us, but I’d just like to know if this is ever a thing? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-time-magazine-notify-poty-honorees-in-advance/802633/2 "2017-11-25T00:25:34Z")
Did they notify you in 2006? ---
**Author:** ![Warm\_blood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/df705f/32.png) [@Warm\_blood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Warm_blood)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-time-magazine-notify-poty-honorees-in-advance/802633/3 "2017-11-25T00:33:17Z")
^^^ I had a lot of missed calls around that time, who knows. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-time-magazine-notify-poty-honorees-in-advance/802633/4 "2017-11-25T00:40:00Z")
Amusingly, [Michael Moore](http://reporter.blogs.com/risky/2006/09/michael_moore_d.html) said something very similar back in 2004, so it sounds like they do call people up for interviews/photos. > [@](#): > > “I got a call right after the '04 election,” Moore said, “from an editor from Time Magazine. He said, ‘Time Magazine has picked you and Mel Gibson to be Time’s Person of the Year to put on the cover, Right and Left, Mel and Mike. The only thing you have to do is pose for a picture with each other. And do an interview together.’ I said ‘OK.’ They call Mel up, he agrees. They set the date and time in LA. I’m to fly there. He’s flying from Australia. Something happens when he gets home. Maybe he went to church for guidance and God spoke to him and said, ‘No way you’re doing a cover with Michael Moore.’” (laughter) “Next thing, Mel calls up and says, ‘I’m not doing it. I’ve thought it over and it is not the right thing to do.’ So they put Bush on the cover.” ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-time-magazine-notify-poty-honorees-in-advance/802633/5 "2017-11-25T00:43:38Z")
Note that POTY isn’t an honour as such, it’s a mark of how many news stories that person has generated. Hitler was their man of the year in 1938, and they weren’t honouring him. I doubt they informed him beforehand, either. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-time-magazine-notify-poty-honorees-in-advance/802633/6 "2017-11-25T01:31:50Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Note that POTY isn’t an honour as such, it’s a mark of how many news stories that person has generated. Hitler was their man of the year in 1938, and they weren’t honouring him. > > I doubt they informed him beforehand, either. _ **Wasn’t** _ an honor. After 1979, when they named the Ayatollah Khomeini and had a horrible backlash, they decided not to name people who were generally despised in the U.S. They pretty much stated this explicitly when they named Giuliani rather than Osama bin Laden in 2001. ---
**Author:** ![Dobbs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Dobbs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dobbs)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-time-magazine-notify-poty-honorees-in-advance/802633/7 "2017-11-25T02:14:36Z")
From [http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/24/politics/president-donald-trump-time-magazine/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/24/politics/president-donald-trump-time-magazine/index.html) “The President is incorrect about how we choose Person of the Year. TIME does not comment on our choice until publication, which is December 6,” a spokeswoman told CNN. ---
**Author:** ![Warm\_blood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/df705f/32.png) [@Warm\_blood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Warm_blood)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-time-magazine-notify-poty-honorees-in-advance/802633/8 "2017-11-25T04:00:12Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Note that POTY isn’t an honour as such, it’s a mark of how many news stories that person has generated. Hitler was their man of the year in 1938, and they weren’t honouring him. > > I doubt they informed him beforehand, either. I’m aware of that, i just used the term “honouree” because it sounded more neutral than “winner” to me. > [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > _ **Wasn’t** _ an honor. After 1979, when they named the Ayatollah Khomeini and had a horrible backlash, **they decided not to name people who were generally despised in the U.S.** They pretty much stated this explicitly when they named Giuliani rather than Osama bin Laden in 2001. I wonder if they had a dilemma last year about how this policy clashed with their tradition of making the new US President POTY. > [@Dobbs](#): > > From [http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/24/politics/president-donald-trump-time-magazine/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/24/politics/president-donald-trump-time-magazine/index.html) > > “The President is incorrect about how we choose Person of the Year. TIME does not comment on our choice until publication, which is December 6,” a spokeswoman told CNN. Yeah, just as I figured. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-time-magazine-notify-poty-honorees-in-advance/802633/9 "2017-11-25T04:06:51Z")
Well, to be honest, I sent an email telling them I wasn’t interested either. I don’t need that kind of hassle, and you can never be too sure you WON’T get this bullshit award. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-time-magazine-notify-poty-honorees-in-advance/802633/10 "2017-11-25T04:07:44Z")
Trump is such a narcissist that being POTUS and Leader of the Free World is not enough for him; he can’t imagine only “probably” being Time Person of the Year, (And even if they _were_ planning to name him, I would hope they change course and name someone else. Preferably whoever would annoy him the most.) ---
**Author:** ![purplehearingaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@purplehearingaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehearingaid)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-time-magazine-notify-poty-honorees-in-advance/802633/11 "2017-11-25T04:12:20Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Trump is such a narcissist that being POTUS and Leader of the Free World is not enough for him; he can’t imagine only “probably” being Time Person of the Year, (And even if they _were_ planning to name him, I would hope they change course and name someone else. Preferably whoever would annoy him the most.) Hillary or Obama would annoy him a lot ! 🙂 I would also love to see trump be annoy ! ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-time-magazine-notify-poty-honorees-in-advance/802633/12 "2017-11-25T04:12:36Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Trump is such a narcissist that being POTUS and Leader of the Free World is not enough for him; he can’t imagine only “probably” being Time Person of the Year, (And even if they _were_ planning to name him, I would hope they change course and name someone else. Preferably whoever would annoy him the most.) Oh man, I haven’t wanted Hillary to win something this bad since Nov. 8, 2016. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-time-magazine-notify-poty-honorees-in-advance/802633/13 "2017-11-25T04:20:15Z")
The 2014 “People of the year” were Ebola caregivers. A couple weeks earlier, six identified American survivors appeared on the Today show, and this video later showed up when the award was announced. I suspect that they knew this all along and were ordered to keep it under very tight wraps. In other words, it depends. ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-time-magazine-notify-poty-honorees-in-advance/802633/14 "2017-11-25T04:34:59Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Trump is such a narcissist that being POTUS and Leader of the Free World is not enough for him; he can’t imagine only “probably” being Time Person of the Year, (And even if they _were_ planning to name him, I would hope they change course and name someone else. Preferably whoever would annoy him the most.) I thought Angela was the new Leader of the Free World. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-time-magazine-notify-poty-honorees-in-advance/802633/15 "2017-11-25T06:23:16Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > Amusingly, [Michael Moore](http://reporter.blogs.com/risky/2006/09/michael_moore_d.html) said something very similar back in 2004, so it sounds like they do call people up for interviews/photos. Something about that story seems very unlikely. I would hardly call Mel and Michael two sides to the same coin. Gibson is an entertainer who got in trouble for saying bad things while drunk. His political views aren’t at the forefront of either his fame or his infamy. It sounds like a stupid editorial choice if true. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-time-magazine-notify-poty-honorees-in-advance/802633/16 "2017-11-25T06:53:20Z")
I like how in this article from _MSN_ a former editor of _TIME_ Twitterchides Trump over the fake _TIME_ covers Trump had put up in the clubs of his golf courses while at the same time explaining and seeming fine with the fact that _TIME_ was fake offering the _POTY_ slot to Trump to try to con him into a photo shoot. > [@](#): > > Hate to tell you but that PROBABLY means you’re NOT Person of the Year. They just wanted a photo shoot. But I’m sure you still have that fake TIME cover somewhere in storage. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-time-magazine-notify-poty-honorees-in-advance/802633/17 "2017-11-25T14:15:55Z")
> [@Warm\_blood](#): > > I mean it’s probably safe to assume that [this particular fellow](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/934189999045693441) is bullshitting us, but I’d just like to know if this is ever a thing? **Moderator Note** Since political jabs are not permitted in GQ, it’s not a good idea to start off an OP with one. A number of the following responses were out of line for GQ as well. Since the well has been poisoned from the start, I’m closing this. Colibri General Questions Moderator