To coincide with the announcement of Time magazine's 2003 "Person of the Year," CNN will air a half-hour special report that takes viewers inside the selection process and profiles the top newsmaker from the past year. The special airs on 21 December at 8:30 am (ET).

Aaron Brown will anchor the programme. Kelly Flynn is the senior producer. During the special Time magazine editors ponder a list of possibilities that includes Yasser Arafat, Tony Blair, US President George W Bush, Dick Cheney, Howard Dean, the recently captured Iraq leader Saddam Hussein, Steve Jobs, Jessica Lynch, Pope John Paul II, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, US defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Ariel Sharon and movie star turned California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The special then takes an exclusive look at the persons who made the final cut and why.

Since 1927, with the debut selection of Charles Lindbergh as "Man of the Year," Time has offered a wide range of heroes and villains as the person or persons who most affected the news of the world. At times, the selection has sparked considerable public debate, particularly with the selection of people such as Adolf Hitler, Ayatullah Khomeini, Nikita Khrushchev and Josef Stalin.