Amanda Holpuch 

Beyoncé, Clinton and Snowden: Time lists its 100 most influential people

The magazine's 11th annual list of the world's most influential people leans heavily towards the arts, with commerce and politics playing catch-up
  
  

Time 100 most influential
Time’s breakdown by professional affiliation shows that most honorees – 27 of them – work in the arts. Photograph: /Time Photograph: Time

Time Magazine unveiled its 11th annual collection of the 100 most influential people in the world on Thursday, with a list comprised primarily of artists, politicians and business people.

Each person selected had a few paragraphs about their influence written by recognizable names, including US president Barack Obama, who wrote about Pope Francis, IMF managing director Christine Lagarde, who who wrote about Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen, and actor Lupita Nyong’o, who wrote about director Steve McQueen.

“He’s always in search of the truthful moment that will give the audience real human access to difficult issues,” Nyong’o said of McQueen. “He’s a visionary in that way.”

Beyoncé graces the cover of the 2014 Time 100 issue. “Beyoncé doesn’t just sit at the table,” said Facebook COO and Lean In author Sheryl Sandberg. “She builds a better one.”

This year’s list includes 41 women, a new record. Fox News’ Megyn Kelly is included because of her contributions to US cable news. Fellow Fox News employee Brit Hume said Kelly had all the qualities a great correspondent has when she was discovered: “great looks, strong voice, authoritative yet cheerful presence and obvious intelligence.”

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden appears on the list for exposing the global surveillance system by leaking NSA documents to journalists.

“Snowden has given us a window of opportunity in which to make an informed, self-determined choice about this system,” said Daniel Domscheit-Berg, a technology activist best known for working with Wikileaks. “Our responsibility is to make sure it will not be the last choice we make.”

At 30, Snowden is one of the youngest people on the list. Younger still is education activist Malala Yousafzai, who is 16. Yousafzai also wrote for the magazine, to honor fellow influential person Hillary Clinton. Businessman Carl Icahn is the oldest person on the list at 78.

Magnate T Boone Pickens wrote the tribute for his longtime friend Icahn. “We’ve been called a lot of names over the years,” said Pickens. ‘Corporate raider,’ ‘Asset stripper,’ ‘Bloodsucking ghoul,’ All tough stuff. All inaccurate.”

While Icahn was one of 18 business people, Time’s breakdown by professional affiliation shows that most honorees – 27 of them – work in the arts. The next largest professional affiliation of people with most influence is government workers, who number 26. The professional categories with the least amount of influential people was a tie between science, religion and sports, which had five apiece.

 

Leave a Comment

Required fields are marked *

*

*