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CNN Live Saturday

Interview With Howard Chua-Eoan

Aired December 21, 2002 - 17:28   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: What world figure in 2002 will stand the test of time? Tomorrow, "TIME" magazine will name its choice for person of the year. The publication annually recognizes the newsmaker with the strongest influence on world events, for better or for worse. Howard Chua-Eoan, news director for our sister publication, "TIME" magazine, joins us from New York. Howard, thanks for being with us.
HOWARD CHUA-EOAN, TIME MAGAZINE: My pleasure, Renay.

SAN MIGUEL: So, who is it? I'm sorry, that's a joke. I thought maybe I could catch you off guard, but...

CHUA-EOAN: Well, I was going to say Eminem. Maybe I could get away with that.

SAN MIGUEL: And we were going to have a lot of fun with that choice, I guarantee you. But can you at least tell me if this year's selection was harder or easier than previous years? And I realize last year, special exception, but how did it rank?

CHUA-EOAN: This is pretty difficult, because it was an interesting, very multifaceted year. I think we were still going over the possibilities on Wednesday evening. We had come down to a small number of -- there were sort of -- six finalists, so to speak.

SAN MIGUEL: Six finalists covering a wide range of areas? Mostly politics or mostly what?

CHUA-EOAN: Quite a range. Everything from financial malfeasance to the war in Iraq, from, you know, from legal matters to political matters, geopolitics, everything was part of the discussion.

SAN MIGUEL: Any cultural icons?

CHUA-EOAN: We considered maybe not, but maybe a couple of them may be cultural icons in a certain way.

SAN MIGUEL: OK. That's a very diplomatic way, Howard, we appreciate that. Well, on Time.com, people were voting on who they thought the person of the year should be. And we have kind of a partial list here. Ariel Sharon, obviously, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice. And you mentioned corporate malfeasance. A lot of folks putting corporate crooks on the list there. Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Eminem came up. Pervez Musharraf, and of course the president, George W. Bush. Hamid Karzai, Martha Stewart, Osama bin Laden, and then the suicide bomber.

It sounds to me like we've got pretty much the six areas that you said covered with those votes from the public.

CHUA-EOAN: Yes, in fact, the Time.com sort of poll was interesting, because there was a contest at one point between the supporters of Ariel Sharon and the supporters of Yasser Arafat. It was let the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) win, but no one's voting seems to really I think gelled one way or the other. But it's an interesting thing to see what the public believes.

SAN MIGUEL: It is, because a lot of folks, you know, will argue over your choice, as they kind of did last year. A lot of folks considering the circumstances of September 11, figured Osama bin Laden was going to be the choice. It ended up being Rudy Giuliani. We don't want to go back and second guess a lot, but it kind of goes into the question of the criteria, the person who supposedly had the most influence, better or worse. Now, it can be argued Osama bin Laden influenced all Americans because he put the fear of terrorism into every home and every backyard and every TV set at least, but Rudy Giuliani was helping to heal New York, in some extent, by extension, America, but he was the mayor of New York City.

CHUA-EOAN: Yes, in a certain sense last year, he was the mayor of America, but you can also argue that Osama bin Laden's influence lasted into this year and you can't discount him as a possibility as person of the year this year.

SAN MIGUEL: Is that what you try to do? You try to pick out -- you know, I know that the media gets to be very, very insular after a while. It's a lot of the folks on Madison Avenue and maybe those in "TIME" magazine's offices, with all due respect, who do a lot of this talking, but should it be the person who influences Main Street America more than anybody else?

CHUA-EOAN: You know, you can argue that we are an American magazine. But it is -- we like to look at -- at what the magazine does as a starting point for looking at history, and you know, for better or for worse, it's a judgment on the historical significance of our choice.

SAN MIGUEL: You know, if you picked corporate crooks, that was initially a Wall Street story, but the effects of that malfeasance spread out to pensions and 401(k)s around the country.

CHUA-EOAN: Exactly. Exactly.

SAN MIGUEL: All right. We'll have to leave it there. We are interested in seeing what the choice will be, as always. Howard Chua- Eoan, news director for "TIME" magazine, thanks for being with us tonight.

CHUA-EOAN: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired December 21, 2002 - 17:28   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: What world figure in 2002 will stand the test of time? Tomorrow, "TIME" magazine will name its choice for person of the year. The publication annually recognizes the newsmaker with the strongest influence on world events, for better or for worse. Howard Chua-Eoan, news director for our sister publication, "TIME" magazine, joins us from New York. Howard, thanks for being with us.
HOWARD CHUA-EOAN, TIME MAGAZINE: My pleasure, Renay.

SAN MIGUEL: So, who is it? I'm sorry, that's a joke. I thought maybe I could catch you off guard, but...

CHUA-EOAN: Well, I was going to say Eminem. Maybe I could get away with that.

SAN MIGUEL: And we were going to have a lot of fun with that choice, I guarantee you. But can you at least tell me if this year's selection was harder or easier than previous years? And I realize last year, special exception, but how did it rank?

CHUA-EOAN: This is pretty difficult, because it was an interesting, very multifaceted year. I think we were still going over the possibilities on Wednesday evening. We had come down to a small number of -- there were sort of -- six finalists, so to speak.

SAN MIGUEL: Six finalists covering a wide range of areas? Mostly politics or mostly what?

CHUA-EOAN: Quite a range. Everything from financial malfeasance to the war in Iraq, from, you know, from legal matters to political matters, geopolitics, everything was part of the discussion.

SAN MIGUEL: Any cultural icons?

CHUA-EOAN: We considered maybe not, but maybe a couple of them may be cultural icons in a certain way.

SAN MIGUEL: OK. That's a very diplomatic way, Howard, we appreciate that. Well, on Time.com, people were voting on who they thought the person of the year should be. And we have kind of a partial list here. Ariel Sharon, obviously, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice. And you mentioned corporate malfeasance. A lot of folks putting corporate crooks on the list there. Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Eminem came up. Pervez Musharraf, and of course the president, George W. Bush. Hamid Karzai, Martha Stewart, Osama bin Laden, and then the suicide bomber.

It sounds to me like we've got pretty much the six areas that you said covered with those votes from the public.

CHUA-EOAN: Yes, in fact, the Time.com sort of poll was interesting, because there was a contest at one point between the supporters of Ariel Sharon and the supporters of Yasser Arafat. It was let the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) win, but no one's voting seems to really I think gelled one way or the other. But it's an interesting thing to see what the public believes.

SAN MIGUEL: It is, because a lot of folks, you know, will argue over your choice, as they kind of did last year. A lot of folks considering the circumstances of September 11, figured Osama bin Laden was going to be the choice. It ended up being Rudy Giuliani. We don't want to go back and second guess a lot, but it kind of goes into the question of the criteria, the person who supposedly had the most influence, better or worse. Now, it can be argued Osama bin Laden influenced all Americans because he put the fear of terrorism into every home and every backyard and every TV set at least, but Rudy Giuliani was helping to heal New York, in some extent, by extension, America, but he was the mayor of New York City.

CHUA-EOAN: Yes, in a certain sense last year, he was the mayor of America, but you can also argue that Osama bin Laden's influence lasted into this year and you can't discount him as a possibility as person of the year this year.

SAN MIGUEL: Is that what you try to do? You try to pick out -- you know, I know that the media gets to be very, very insular after a while. It's a lot of the folks on Madison Avenue and maybe those in "TIME" magazine's offices, with all due respect, who do a lot of this talking, but should it be the person who influences Main Street America more than anybody else?

CHUA-EOAN: You know, you can argue that we are an American magazine. But it is -- we like to look at -- at what the magazine does as a starting point for looking at history, and you know, for better or for worse, it's a judgment on the historical significance of our choice.

SAN MIGUEL: You know, if you picked corporate crooks, that was initially a Wall Street story, but the effects of that malfeasance spread out to pensions and 401(k)s around the country.

CHUA-EOAN: Exactly. Exactly.

SAN MIGUEL: All right. We'll have to leave it there. We are interested in seeing what the choice will be, as always. Howard Chua- Eoan, news director for "TIME" magazine, thanks for being with us tonight.

CHUA-EOAN: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com