Benjamin Cohen (British journalist)

Benjamin Cohen (born 14 August 1982) is a Jewish journalist with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) [ [http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/opinion/2005-5055.html PinkNews- How PinkNews changed gay media] ] based in London. Since 2006 he has been technology correspondent for Channel 4 News in the UK.

He was first discussed in UK media whilst in his teens for his dot.com business activities, and was also in the news in 2005 because of a legal dispute with Apple.

In 1998 Cohen set up the SoJewish website which was designed to replicate a site targeted at the UK Asian community. This SoJewish site which was at one time reported to be valued at £5 million but later was sold to AIM quoted Totally plc for shares then worth just just over £4 million [ [http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=373707&in_page_id=2&in_a_source=This%20is%20Money ThisisMoney- LJN &SoJewish sold for 12.5m in shares then worth 32.5p] ] . For the duration of the transaction he was, technically, the youngest ever director of a public company [ [http://www.channel4.com/news/about_us/meet-the-team/benjamin-cohen.html Channel4.com] ] and his shares were later sold for a much smaller sum than they had previously been reported as being worth.

The BBC reported on Cohen's business activities in a program called "Searching for Sex" as part of their "Trouble at the Top" series.

Cohen's actions in business have been questioned, in particular his claims, now seen as being untrue, about his 'CyberBritain' web initiative. It is claimed that he overstated the number of page views for business reasons. [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/01/10/fishy_porn_search_engine_launched/] Cohen later admitted this untrue business overstatement but contended that such actions were justifiable and in line with internet industry practise at the time. [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/01/05/teenage_dotcom_millionaire_reg_gets/]

After A-levels at the Jews' Free School, Cohen studied at King's College London for a degree in religion, philosophy and ethics. He told an interviewer he was interested in politics (Conservative) as well as philosophy. [Independent] He sold his Hunt4Porn site because of doubts about the "porn baron" connotations, although he believed he "could have made a packet". [Evening Standard] He launched in 2005 Pink News, the award winning [Stonewall publication of the Year 2006] gay news website and newspaper alongside two companion sites: [http://www.pinklegal.co.uk PinkLegal.co.uk] and PinkMarket. He is gay, and writes for Pink News regularly. [Cohen, Benjamin (January 4, 2006), [http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/opinion/2005-306.html Comment: Can we tolerate homophobia for much longer?] . Retrieved November 16, 2006.]

Between 2004 and 2006, Cohen wrote a column on e-business for "The Times" under the heading "dot.com millionaire".

Cohen made his on-screen Channel 4 News debut on 6 August 2006.

ources and notes

*"The Independent" 30 July 2001
*"Sunday Express" 11 March 2001
*"Sunday Telegraph" 3 March 2002
*"Evening Standard" 30 March 2005
* [http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=site%3Abusiness.timesonline.co.uk+benjamin+cohen&btnG=Google+Search&meta= Cohen in "Times Online"]
* [http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1854285,00.html Observer 20th August 2006]

External links

* Interview with justpeople.com [http://www.justpeople.com/contentnew/People/Interviews/Ebusiness/BenjaminCohen.asp]
* Early profile from the [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/593311.stm BBC]
* Early profile from The Register [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/03/16/teenage_dotcom_millionaire_has_trouble/]