People take part in a protest outside The New York Times on February 26, 2017 in New York.

Despite the White House ramping up its rhetoric, the United States remains a free and fair press, Ben Goldberger the assistant managing editor of Time magazine told CNBC on Wednesday.

The year 2018 has been marked by manipulation, abuse of truth, along with efforts by governments to instigate mistrust of the facts, the magazine said in an essay when it named killed and imprisoned journalists as Person of the Year for 2018 on Tuesday.

"There's no doubt that the rhetoric from the White House about the demonization of the media as 'the enemy of the people,' or the willingness to dismiss anything including credible news reporting as fake news, is incredibly worrisome and chilling," Goldberger said. "But that said, I return to what I said about the United States — this remains a free and fair press."

"Journalists here enjoy legal protections that are the envy of those in virtually every other country," he added.