Lucire’s news-makers of 2024

If we were some other title, Gisèle Pelicot would be our Person of the Year. Mme Pelicot is very much a news-maker of 2024, a woman who stood up against rapists and rape culture, standing strongly to tell her story and to shift the shame—rightly—on her husband and the 50 men now found guilty of raping her while she was drugged. Too many incidents go unreported or are not progressed, and Mme Pelicot’s courage has started changing the world. Since the convictions, calls have increased at a new French hospital helpline created to deal with women who were drugged and assaulted. The shock of her case will, hopefully, have wider effects around the world and help end rape culture.

Te Pāti Māori

The Hon Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, MP became the international face of Aotearoa New Zealand as she tore up a copy of an ill-informed and misleading bill designed to dismantle rights guaranteed to Māori, and turn the nation into a dull occidental outpost devoid of any unique character, ripe for foreign exploitation. With native rights and customs far more on people’s minds globally, the bill is decisively out of step with where 21st-century people are heading, and Maipi-Clarke’s sentiments found favour far beyond the country’s shores. Aotearoa hasn’t had anything with such an impact on global media since Sir Peter Jackson answered ‘Who shot J. R. R.?’ and Flight of the Conchords. With Border Patrol the country’s most famous export at present, Maipi-Clarke reminded the world that Aotearoa is on the map.

Nobel laureate Han Kang, winner of the 2024 literature prize, is the 18th woman, the first Asian woman, and the first South Korean writer to win the accolade. She was honoured for her body of work that includes The Vegetarian (2007, translated into English in 2015). Her writings give a voice to many who might not speak of the traumas they have endured, such as those who suffered under the Gwangju massacre of 1980, central to her book Human Acts. Hundreds died, others were maimed, and many were traumatized. It is fitting that Han, who gives dignity to those who otherwise lacked a voice, was awarded in a year marked by such grim state violence and the silencing of opposition to it.

Blake Lively makes it on to our 2024 list after enduring a misogynistic smear campaign against her to minimize the concerns of misconduct, including sexual harassment, that she raised about It Ends with Us producers Justin Baldoni and Jamey Heath. Her lawsuit alleges that the pair engaged in a PR effort with the same communication consultants that helped Johnny Depp discredit his ex-wife Amber Heard—all too easy for certain members of the public eager to hate on women in a double standard that still exists. There’s little difference between this and Gamergate, except Lively has a profile and lawyered up against a bunch of people who weren’t even known by the general public. She also has the support of co-stars Brandon Sklenar and Jenny Slate, as well as America Ferrara, Alexis Bledel and Amber Tamblyn. Heard, too, has lent her support to Lively.

Our colleagues in Gaza—many of whom have paid the ultimate price—surely must be recognized. While not technically news-makers—they are there to report—the fact they continue to do their jobs, and are often the faces with which we identify in the war there, help keep us informed. This is a selfless task, especially given the very real danger that they face. The Committee to Protect Journalists gives a death toll of 141 journalists and media workers as of December 20, 2024. There are 130 additional cases of potential killings, arrests and injuries that the CPJ is investigating, so the actual total is likely higher. •

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