Ten years ago, Arianna Huffington was best known for appearances on the now-defunct Politically Incorrect, and Tina Brown was throwing lavish parties for the now-defunct Talk magazine. Meanwhile, Time was chugging along, covering news and politics just as it had been for decades. It’s this that the publication is trying to seize upon with its new TimeFrames initiative, which begins with a new issue that looks back on the magazine’s coverage of the last decade.

Every December, Time names a “Person of the Year”—the individual or entity that, in the magazine’s estimation, has had the greatest impact on the news either for good or for ill. The process for naming 2010′s recipient kicked off last night, when Time hosted a Person of the Year panel in Manhattan’s Time and Life building.

Representative John Boehner is having a good few weeks: now that Republicans have won control of the House of Representatives, he’s poised to become the next Speaker of the House. And the media are covering Boehner relentlessly–in the first two weeks of November, he has been featured on the cover of three major weekly magazines.

This week on Real Time with Bill Maher, panelists Fareed Zakaria, Rep. Darrell Issa, Dana Gould, and Washington DC Mayor Adrian Fenty discussed the right wing “echo chamber” and the rapid spread of rumors about the cost of President Obama‘s trip to India. They also took aim at the blogosphere, criticizing blogs for spreading the rumors and criticizing politicians such as Rep. Michele Bachmann for believing things they read on the internet.

This morning, we learned that the vast majority of claims made in political ads this midterm season have been blatantly false. But that doesn’t mean all of those ads have been ineffective.

An AFP story Tuesday ran with the headline, “Gulf focus shifts, but where is all the oil?” The story essentially states that while clean-up efforts are in full swing after the well was finally capped, the crews are not finding very much oil in the Gulf; they’re actually wondering where it has gone. Well, Mother Jones has a response: it hasn’t gone anywhere. In fact, MoJo is criticizing the media for its reporting on the situation.

This week’s Time magazine cover might startle you. It might make you a bit uncomfortable. And that’s exactly what Rick Stengel, the magazine’s managing editor, intended. The cover image shows 18-year-old Aisha, an Afghan woman who, after leaving her abusive in-laws, had her nose and ears cut off by the Taliban. The story’s headline reads: What Happens If We Leave Afghanistan.

As journalism’s existentialist crisis continues, Time magazine has resorted to what many readers dread: an online paywall. Take a look around Time‘s website and you’ll find that print magazine content is no longer freely available. So how can you read it? Buy the print magazine…or the iPad edition.

Do you know where King Tut’s penis is?

Because it’s missing, and Time Magazine is bringing the story of this “anatomical conspiracy” to its readers today, via a New Scientist report.

Soccer teams from countries all over the world have already gathered in South Africa to compete in the World Cup, but at the end of the month the country will play host to different types of national representatives, like heads of state and CEOs of the world’s biggest companies. Did someone say boondoggle?

There is only one aspect of politics, empirically, that Sarah Palin knows about: being the CEO of a state. So it shouldn’t be surprising to listen to her sound knowledgeable explaining Jan Brewer‘s decision to pass a controversial immigration law in Arizona on last night’s Hannity, but compared to the folksy buzzword soup she usually cooks up, this was conservative policy at its finest.

The internet has made definitive revolutionary changes in the way Americans consume their media and interact with their federal government– not exactly a shocking statement. But Michael Scherer at Time Magazine is now proposing that the most tech-savvy government in history is being hurt by its inability to control the flow of information (and misinformation) online.

I recently stumbled on a little antique market and, there, a 1977 issue of New York magazine. In this particular issue: Seattle Slew’s chances in the Triple Crown (good), the opening of Studio 54 (bananas), and a shocking review of Annie Hall. But check out the inspirational cover story for our friends in the media industry. For if you’re struggling every day to publish magazines and newspapers that, unfortunately, probably won’t be along much longer (or websites that, unfortunately, will) – at least you’re not making $23,200 a year.*

Black History Month is, among other things, a media event. And believe it or not, there was a time when the cover of a magazine was considered an unparalleled promotional powerhouse. Following is a collection of covers that feature an artist, personality, historical event, or publication of significance in black history. This series is co-produced by Linda Rubes of Fortune magazine. View the full list here. (Cover at left: Time, April 6, 1970, painting of Jesse Jackson by Jacob Lawrence, for a special issue on “Black America 1970.”)

Football is the most popular sport in America, but its popularity goes hand-in-hand with the fact that it’s also the most dangerous of the mainstream sports. In the latest issue of Time, Sean Gregory takes a look at the game’s ever-worsening head injury epidemic, and tries to figure out how to reverse the trend.

It appears the mainstream media is slowly catching up to the Glenn Beck phenomenon. This past September Time put him on the cover, last month Barbara Walters included him in her most fascinating people of 2009, today the Wall St. Journal’s online op-ed editor James Taranto has pubbed a longish interview with him. Seems like Beck may not merely be a (fascinating) side show much longer.

As the decade we’ve dubbed The Aughts winds to a close, many magazines are celebrating with giant interactive features that attempt to encapsulate ten years of tragedy, victory, controversy and beyond. But to praise (or denounce, right Time?) the end of the decade with a magazine cover is truly a special sort of honor — and oddly enough, it’s rare. So far, not too many titles have given the early 2000s the newsstand treatment, so we figured for the final edition of Cover Wars this year (and this decade!), we would celebrate those commemorating The Aughts. See you next year, but first, click inside to see the winner!

As writers scramble for their last-ditch efforts to name this decade, attention has landed on Time Magazine for their proposed name: “The Decade From Hell.” But what’s more interesting is to consider what Time suggested – and today’s editors subsequently neglected to revisit – in their first issue of the decade.

The White House might be annoyed with the way that Roger Ailes‘ Fox News has been covering the current administration, and a little upset that other mainstream outlets have not been especially diligent when fact-checking Fox. But there’s one thing that Anita Dunn, field marshall of the White House’s Call ‘Em Out Patrol, doesn’t mind about Fox: Golden boy Major Garrett.

As we noted yesterday when news broke about Time Magazine’s cover story on Glenn Beck, the image used is from a photo shoot last year by Jill Greenberg.

It’s an interesting choice. Greenberg is known for her liberal views – and she’s being very upfront about her use of this opportunity to take revenge on those who attacked her.

It’s the question on the minds of many, and it’s certainly worth asking. Whether or not it’s good for America is only an afterthought, but first, the real issue: Is Glenn Beck the new Rush Limbaugh? Politico’s Michael Calderone makes the case in “Glenn Beck vs. Rush Limbaugh” and Time plays up the parallels.

Time magazine took a break from putting Pres. Barack Obama on their cover to give a cover story to his buddy, Fox News host Glenn Beck. The article, headlined, “Mad Man,” asks, “Is Glenn Beck Bad for America?”

As he does each week, Time Editor Rick Stengel made the announcement on Morning Joe, and the MSNBC hosts each weighed in on Beck.

Last night on the Daily Show, Funny People director Judd Apatow revealed that he’d been thisclose to making the cover of Time, but got knocked off at the last minute by Dr. Obama. Ah well, Obama tends to do that sometimes. Luckily, Apatow had a version of “his” cover on hand, with the headline: Funny Person.

The latest “Destruction of Journalism” debate centers on a Time magazine cover announcing “The New Frugality” — a rather meta choice, considering the flap emerging online about the fee Time paid for for the stock photo used: $30.

Is Time devaluing the worth of photographers? Or is it, like everyone else, straining to find creative ways to maximize budgets that have been slashed to bits? And is this “wrong” or just part of the natural order of things?

What does it take to get Time Magazine to not put President Barack Obama on the cover?

How about an inside look at “The Final Days of Bush and Cheney.” And like other media outlets since Obama has entered office – and Cheney was suddenly everywhere – it comes across as undoubtedly Team Bush.