Obama tops Newsmaker 2008
2009-01-06 15:19
Cape Town - Barack Obama has been voted by you as 2008's biggest newsmaker. Handily beating out Bob "bad news" Mugabe, Thabo "quiet diplomacy" Mbeki and Madiba, the US President-elect was the runaway winner in our Newsmaker of the Year 2008 poll.
Although the runner-up newsmakers faired well in our monthly votes Obama was your headline king for 2008.
"Eclipsing political tensions and turbulence here at home, as well as the 90th birthday of South Africa's most famous citizen, Obama's historic election as US President was seen as a watershed moment," said News24 Editor Jannie Momberg.
"In the face of ongoing downward spiral in Zimbabwe and our country's shifting political landscape, this year's American Presidential election offered the world's citizens a sense of hope and opportunity for change that was significant enough to usurp all other stories."
During 2008, News24's Newsmaker of the Month saw four newsmakers emerge, according to votes from News24 users:
Robert Mugabe (June)
Nelson Mandela (July)
Thabo Mbeki (September)
Mosiuoa "Terror" Lekota (October)
