Wirecutter hires Frumin as its editor in chief

Wirecutter, a tech news site owned by the New York Times, announced Thursday that Ben Frumin will be its next editor-in-chief.

In this role, Frumin will oversee all Wirecutter coverage and day-to-day editorial operations of the site.  He will start Jan. 7.

He succeeds Jacqui Cheng, who stepped down in September.

“We were in a unique position when we set out to look for a new editor-in-chief because our extensive review process and scrupulous readers require an editor that is committed to our mission of helping people find the best gadgets and gear above all else,” said David Perpich, president and general manager of Wirecutter, in a statement. “Ben brings extraordinary journalistic rigor, digital savvy and compassionate leadership to the role and we’re looking forward to having him get started.”

Ben joins Wirecutter from TheWeek.com, where he was editor-in-chief since 2012. He joined TheWeek.com in 2011 as deputy editor, after spending about two years at Talking Points Memo as a senior editor.

“I am delighted and honored to join Wirecutter,” said Frumin in a statement. “As a long-time reader and user of the site, I have for years admired and appreciated just how much Wirecutter’s tremendously smart and hardworking journalists care about their readers. Wirecutter produces peerless work, and I am thrilled to lead a group of principled journalists who genuinely help people in such a thoughtful and personal way.”

Ben was an adjunct assistant professor at Columbia Journalism School in New York from 2009-2010 and held a variety of editorial positions throughout the 2000s including at Thomson Reuters; Delhi Press in New Delhi, India; North County Times in San Diego County, California; and The Coast News in Encinitas, California.