New York: Three female 'whistle-blowers' - Coleen Rowley of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Sherron Watkins of Enron and Cynthia Cooper of WorldCom – have been named 'TIME' magazine's 2002 "Persons of the Year".

"In a year that saw our trust in American institutions tested so severely, what better way to capture that news than to profile three ordinary people who in extraordinary ways tried to restore confidence in business and government?" TIME managing editor Jim Kelly wrote.

In early December TIME brought the three together in a Minneapolis hotel room where they met for the first time and shared stories about their parallel experiences in the year.

"These women were for the 12 months just ending what New York City fire fighters were in 2001: heroes at the scene, anointed by circumstance. They were people who did right just by doing their jobs rightly – which means ferociously, with eyes open and with the bravery the rest of us always hope we have and may never know if we do," TIME said.

"Their lives may not have been at stake, but Watkins Rowley and Cooper put pretty much everything else on the line. Democratic capitalism requires that people trust in the integrity of public and private institutions alike. As whistle-blowers, these three became fail-safe systems that did not fail," the magazine said.

These women get high marks from the American public: Six out of 10 Americans (59 per cent) surveyed think whistle-blowers are heroes, while two out of 10 (18 per cent) think they are traitors, according to a new TIME/CNN poll.

Almost three out of four (73 per cent) Americans said they would become whistle- blowers if they observed serious criminal wrongdoing at work.

PTI