Since 1927, when TIME selected Charles Lindbergh as its first Man of the Year, the basic criterion has remained the same: the distinction goes to the person or group who, as it was stated on this page in 1943, "has done the most to change the news, for better or for worse." There have been designees very plainly in the latter category--Adolf Hitler (1938), Joseph Stalin (1939)--but selection has never necessarily connoted either the magazine's, or the world's, approval of the subject. Thus the editors had little difficulty naming Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini, intransigent leader of the Iranian revolution, as TIME'S Man of the Year for 1979.

"The impact of the Ayatullah on world events is far greater than merely the hostage crisis," says World Editor John Elson, who edited the opening story, written by Senior Writer George Church, and the additional stories by Church and Associate Editor William Smith. Sums up Elson: "Khomeini has ignited a messianic fervor to destroy Western influence that may spread throughout the Arab world, and a xenophobic nationalism that could be exported even to non-Islamic Third World nations."

For Correspondents Bruce van Voorst and Roland Flamini in Tehran, reporting the story was a race against two deadlines, TIME'S own and that of the Iranian government, which was preparing their expulsion. Van Voorst had been promised a private interview with the Ayatullah in early November, but no date was set for the meeting. As the year's end approached, the correspondents found themselves subjected to increasing surveillance from mysterious cars parked outside TIME'S office, fortnightly warnings from the ministry that issued their credentials, and a visit from revolutionary tribunal agents who thoroughly searched the bureau. Accusing TIME of "one-sided and biased" coverage, the government finally ordered the two expelled. But 48 hours earlier Van Voorst had received a call from a Foreign Ministry official telling him to be in Qum that evening if he wanted to see Khomeini. Van Voorst had barely 45 minutes to collect Reporter Raji Samghabadi and Photographer Kaveh Golestan. Says Van Voorst:

"Clearly, the Foreign Ministry did not know that we were about to be expelled by the National Guidance Ministry--a lack of coordination that was typical and, for once, fortuitous."

Despite the hazards of being a Western journalist in Iran, Van Voorst is eager to return "when the dust settles." Meanwhile, TIME will use its many other resources to provide the same degree of thorough coverage of events in Iran as is offered in this issue.

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