Slate’s Person of the Year: Edward Snowden

Though Pope Francis beat the whistle-blower for the title in Time magazine, Snowden’s story remains one of the most influential of 2013; the Russian government will set up protest zones at the Sochi Winter Olympics; and Instagramming every moment may be altering your memory. These discoveries and more below.

On a regular basis, Truthdig brings you the news items and odds and ends that have found their way to Larry Gross, director of the USC Annenberg School for Communication. A specialist in media and culture, art and communication, visual communication and media portrayals of minorities, Gross helped found the field of gay and lesbian studies.

REVEALED: The Person of the Year Is Edward Snowden As you know, ever since 1927 Slate’s Moneybox column has annually designated a “Man of The Year,” with the title changed in 1999 to “Person” of the year but in practice it’s almost always a man because patriarchy.

Snowden for Person of the Year, and Coverage of a Story That Just Won’t Quit Some stories have legs: They just keep coming; they don’t fade away.

For Top-Tier Universities, Changes in Higher Education Might Be Overblown Over the last few years, people who study and report on higher education have spent much time talking about the wave of revolution coming for colleges and universities.

NBC Will Turn A Spotlight On Russia’s Antigay Abuses During Winter Olympics It is seldom that we have good news to report about Russia, so we’re pleased to note that NBC is starting to pay more attention to the country’s antigay abuse.

Chinese Professor Who Advocated for Constitutional Rule Is Fired A Chinese law professor said on Tuesday that he had been fired after refusing to retract published articles that criticized the Communist Party and called for constitutional rule in China, the Associated Press reported.

Russia Will Create Protest Zones at 2014 Sochi Olympics The Russian government will create special protest zones at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Olympic officials said Tuesday.

As Bedouin Villages are Destroyed, So Too are Hopes for Palestinian Peace Deal As United States envoys shuttle back and forth in search of a peace formula to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a matter supposedly settled decades ago is smouldering back into life.

Former ambassador: Netanyahu is Not Welcome in South Africa Alon Liel, Israel’s former ambassador to South Africa, says PM made right decision by not attending Mandela memorial but not for high travel costs.

How Instagram Alters Your Memory Our cities, neighborhoods, and favorite spaces have never been quite so widely photographed before.