Editor in Chief of Wirecutter Visits NRHS Journalism Class

Daviel Schulman

On Friday, October 30th, Mrs. Russo’s senior journalism course hosted a special guest speaker: Ben Frumin.  Frumin is currently the Editor in Chief of Wirecutter, a website that is owned by The New York Times and specializes in product reviews.  Before working for Wirecutter, Frumin was Editor in Chief of The Week, a news magazine.  In his early career, Frumin taught journalism as an adjunct assistant professor at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, his alma mater.

Frumin says he became a news reporter “for all the sappy, feel-good reasons” such as wanting to help people, make the world a better place, help people understand the world, and uncover the truth or hidden injustices.  Frumin conveyed, “One of the joys in pursuing a career in journalism is that you can believe in the work that you do.”  He feels privileged to have a job that he truly loves and enjoys.  Frumin appreciates how a career in journalism allows him to learn new things, meet new and interesting people, and be a storyteller.

One aspect of journalism that Frumin particularly enjoys is playing a role in the solution of problems.  He loved working as a local news reporter at the beginning of his career in journalism because he could “feel the impact” of the stories he wrote, which made his work all the more meaningful.  Frumin noted that working on big, national stories was significant to him in a different way, because he felt like he was “living through history.”  For instance, Frumin was working at The Week during the 2016 Presidential Election.  He vividly remembers working all through the night and having to delete all of his “Hillary Makes History” coverage when he and his colleagues realized the results were headed in the other direction.  Frumin said that working on these large, national stories (the 2016 Presidential Election, the 9/11 terrorist attack, the Sandy Hook shooting, Brexit, etc.)  made him feel like he was living in an “alternate reality.”

As the current Editor in Chief of Wirecutter, Frumin manages a staff of about a hundred journalists who are “constantly researching, reporting on, testing, and learning about almost any product you think you might buy.”  The Wirecutter website has reviews of electronics, home and garden products, kitchen and dining products, appliances, and other miscellaneous things such as clothing, baby/children’s and pet products.  Frumin summarized: “Anything that you can imagine buying to put in your home or on your person, we want to review it.”  

Frumin and his Wirecutter staff believe that people should not have to worry about what to buy.  Frumin truly believes in the importance and effectiveness of his work: “Having great stuff makes your life better...makes your life happier, easier, more efficient.”  The Wirecutter site allows people to quickly find an article on the best blender, the best earbuds, the best bed pillows, or whatever product they need without having to fret.  In short, Frumin said, “We overthink things so that our readers can underthink them.”

According to Frumin, the journalism industry was impacted by the Coronavirus pandemic in a number of ways.  He explained that news publications depend heavily on advertisements as a source of revenue.  The advertising industry was hit hard by the pandemic, taking a toll on news publications as well.  The pandemic is especially difficult for smaller, local newspapers, many of which were already struggling.  Frumin indicated that Wirecutter was rather fortunate due to its larger size: “We haven’t faced the same negative consequences that so many other publications have but [the pandemic] has absolutely dramatically changed the way that we work.”  Frumin and his colleagues have been working from home since around March 10th, 2019.  The Wirecutter staff in particular has had to get creative because they are no longer able to test products in their usual testing labs/centers; they were forced to adapt and test products from their homes.  Frumin also noted that the way people shop has completely changed since the start of the pandemic, so he and his staff had to accommodate their work to account for the surge of online shopping.

Frumin left Mrs. Russo’s class with a few pieces of advice that he received early in his career.  He told the class, “If you ever have the slightest inclination to say something nice to someone in our industry...always err on the side of reaching out and saying the nice thing.”  Frumin emphasized that forming positive relationships with other journalists can only be helpful in the long run. Likewise, he stressed the importance of reputation:   “If anyone asks anyone who has ever known you...‘Can he write? Is he a jerk? What’s up with that guy?’ you want whoever is on the receiving end of that question to be like, ‘Oh my god, I love that guy!’”  All in all, Frumin encourages aspiring journalists to be their best selves; that is what will bring opportunities.