Time Magazines Person of the Year isn't about the media, it's about who influenced our news. Thusly, your two choices made no sense at all. I would guess more people are more aware of Miley Cyrus than either of your choices that you listed.
The TIME website I quoted in the OP said:
"The recognition goes to the person who TIME’s editors think most influenced the news this year, for good or bad."
For the reasons I gave in the OP, Fox News or Rush Limbaugh have influenced the news more than any of the people on the list, possibly excepting Obama himself (a President always influences the news in major ways).
This year, those two had more influence on the liberals who write, slant, and disseminate most news, than anyone else. By repeatedly pointing out just how bad the various Obama administration scandals were, and not letting up in the face of attacks and abuse by the rest of the media....
.... they actually got the mainstream media to start criticizing the Obama administration, and got ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, and various other leftist outlets to say BAD things about the Obamanites.
Such a reporting trend among the liberal press is unprecedented, and in fact astounding. And it never would have happened if not for the persistent and factual reporting of Fox News and Limbaugh. Of course, those liberal outlets have since stopped reporting on the IRS, Obama's ineffectual response to Syria's use of WMDs on its own population, the coverup of Benghazi deaths of U.S. officials, the NSA, etc., and are winding down their criticism of Obamacare fast.
Nonetheless, they actually performed a little investigative reporting for a while there. And that is such a monumental change, showing such an earth-shaking "influence on the news", that the people who made it happen should be a shoe-in for the award.
Of course, that's like asking a naughty five-year-old who finally got caught with chocolate smeared over his face and his hand in the candy bowl, who was forced to go and wash up and even buy some replacement candy: "Which parent or grandparent or aunt or uncle was the most responsible for making you clean up your act? We want to give them an award!" ...and expecting them to give an honest answer.
So, sure enough, neither Limbaugh nor Fox News appears on TIME's short list of candidates.
Here is a link to all of Time Magazine's Person of the Year. Do you see anyone who was part of the media? One person who could be considered media is Mark Zuckerberg but then that would be "social media". In other words, you're 100% wrong.
Now your choices may be really important to you, but you represent a small piece of the American demographics. Time is talking about the entire US and the world! Fox News get's 8% of all the news audience in the US, Rush less than 1% of the audience. That isn't even a ripple on an undisturbed and smooth lake.
Oh and here's the link.
Time Person of the Year
Time Person of the Year - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ya think we can have just a little reality here?
Let's talk about if it would have been appropriate. How about Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward bringing down a president. They certainly would have qualified. Rather than any one person, I think Fox News would be appropriate just for the reasons Little Acorn suggested. Perhaps the owner or general manager of Fox. If nothing else, it's something to think about. Turning around those liberal networks is nothing short of a coup.