- Benjamin Chertoff
Benjamin Chertoff is a journalist and producer. He is most known for his work on the
Popular Mechanics article . He currently produces the AOL News tech show The Switched Show [ [http://www.switched.com/category/switched-video/ Posts from the Switched Video Category at Switched: Gadgets, Tech, Digital Stuff for the Rest of Us ] ] . He has also edited PopularMechanics.com [ [http://www.popularmechanics.com Popular Mechanics ] ] , and created thePopular Mechanics Show , the weekly podcast ofPopular Mechanics magazine. [ [http://www.popularmechanics.com/podcasts The Popular Mechanics Show: All Podcast Episodes - Popular Mechanics ] ]Biography
Benjamin Chertoff is a
magazine andvideo journalist . He began his career at the age of 19, working as an intern in the features department atTime Out New York Magazine -- including researching the magazine's Urban Legends story -- and later contributing to the features section. Along withfreelancing for several national magazines, he then worked atMen's Journal . In 2003 he helped start the political non-profitMusic for America . He moved toPopular Mechanics in September, 2004. There, he worked as the magazine's research editor, and helped to manage the reporting for magazine's March, 2005 story, as well as the magazine's coverage of the aftermath toHurricane Katrina , and many other aviation, military and technology stories. He is currently the Online Editor of Popular Mechanics, and edits all the non-print outlets of Popular Mechanics Magazine. [ [http://www.popularmechanics.com/marketing/1100892.html Editorial Guidelines - Popular Mechanics ] ]The magazine's investigation of 9/11 conspiracy theories was the first of its kind. Chertoff has stated that the magazine's editors decided to investigate 9/11 Myths after seeing
Jimmy Walter 's full page ad in theNew York Times for a book calledPainful Questions . [ [http://www.erichufschmid.net/PainfulQuestionsBuyBook.html Painful Questions sales ] ] In a June, 2006 column in Scientific American magazine, [ [http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=000DA0E2-1E15-128A-9E1583414B7F0000 Fahrenheit 2777: Scientific American ] ]Skeptics Society president Dr. Michael Shermer called the Popular Mechanics article "the single best debunking of this conspiratorial codswallop." In 2006, the magazine published the book , which greatly expanded on the original story, including new myths and much more detail than could fit in the original, magazine article.Disputed family background
Supporters of the conspiracy theories have claimed that "" is "a propaganda piece" written by "a senior government official's cousin" because Chertoff has the same last name as
Department of Homeland Security secretaryMichael Chertoff . However, Chertoff has repeatedly denied this claim, most notably in the September 11, 2006 issue ofU.S. News & World Report , stating "no one in my family has ever met anyone related to Michael Chertoff". [ [http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/060903/11conspiracy.htm "Viewing 9/11 From a Grassy Knoll"] , Will Sullivan, "U.S. News & World Report ",March 9 ,2006 ] In an audio interview, he noted that any possible relationship would likely only be found in "19th-century Belarus", and that his mother has described any such possible relationship as "distant". [ [http://odeo.com/show/1783494/view Odeo podcast] with "Popular Mechanics" executive editor David Dunbar, contributing editor Brad Reagan and editor-in-chief Jim Meigs,August 22 ,2006 ]Coverage
He has been referred to by
Coast to Coast AM , [http://www.coasttocoastam.com/guests/934.html] aWashington Post blog, [ [http://blog.washingtonpost.com/reportingforduty/2006/04/day_flights.html Beauty in Iraq - Reporting for Duty ] ]CNN [ [http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0508/24/lad.01.html CNN.com - Transcripts ] ] [ [http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0508/24/lad.01.html CNN.com - Transcripts ] ] andABC news . [ [http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Technology/story?id=1767392 ABC News: Car of the Future May Drive You ] ]References
External links
* [http://odeo.com/show/1783494/view Odeo podcast] with Benjamin Chertoff
* [http://www.benjaminchertoff.com Personal website] of Benjamin Chertoff
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