Alex Berenson Explained

Alex Berenson
Birth Name:Alex Norman Berenson
Birth Date:6 January 1973
Birth Place:New York, U.S.
Spouse:Dr. Jacqueline Anne Basha
(m. 2009)
Education:Yale University (BA)
Genre:Nonfiction, spy fiction
Subject:Politics
Awards:Edgar Award (2007)

Alex Norman Berenson[1] (born January 6, 1973) is an American writer who was a reporter for The New York Times, and has authored several thriller novels as well a book on corporate financial filings. His 2019 book sparked controversy, earning denunciations from many in the scientific and medical communities.

During the coronavirus pandemic, Berenson appeared frequently in American right-wing media, spreading claims about COVID-19 and its vaccines. He spent much of the pandemic arguing that its seriousness was overblown. Once the COVID-19 vaccines became available, he made claims about the lack of safety and effectiveness of the vaccines.[2] [3] [4]

Early life and education

Berenson was born in New York, and grew up in Englewood, New Jersey.[5] After attending the Horace Mann School, he graduated from Yale University in 1994 with bachelor's degrees in history and economics.[6]

Career

Berenson joined The Denver Post in June 1994 as a business reporter. In August 1996, he left the Post to join TheStreet, a financial news website founded by Jim Cramer. In December 1999, Berenson joined The New York Times as a business investigative reporter.

In the fall of 2003 and the summer of 2004, Berenson covered the occupation of Iraq for the Times. He then covered the pharmaceutical and health care industries, specializing in issues concerning dangerous drugs.[7] Beginning in December 2008, Berenson reported on the Bernard Madoff $50 billion Ponzi scheme scandal.

In 2010, Berenson left the Times to become a full-time novelist. He lives in Garrison, New York,[8] with his wife Jacqueline, a forensic psychiatrist.[9]

He has written 12 spy novels, all featuring the same protagonist, CIA agent John Wells. His first novel, The Faithful Spy, was released in April 2006 and won an Edgar Award for best debut by an American novelist.[10] The Faithful Spy was ranked #1 on The New York Times Bestseller List for paperbacks.[11]

In 2008, Berenson released his second thriller, The Ghost War. His third novel, The Silent Man, followed in 2009. His fourth, The Midnight House, was released in 2010 and debuted at #9 on The New York Times bestseller list.[12] The fifth, The Secret Soldier, was released in 2011 and debuted at #6 on the bestseller list.[13] The sixth, The Shadow Patrol, was released in 2012, and debuted at #8.[14] [15] In July 2012, The Shadow Patrol was named a finalist for the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award, given by Britain's Crime Writers' Association.[16] [17]

Opposition to cannabis legalization

In 2019, Berenson authored the book Tell Your Children: The Truth About Marijuana, Mental Illness and Violence, which argues that marijuana use contributes to psychotic disorders and violent crime. The book "received positive coverage from The New Yorker and Mother Jones for what some called its troubling truths"[18] but was denounced as alarmist and inaccurate in the scientific and medical communities because of his claims that cannabis psychosis and violence; many scientists state that he is drawing inappropriate conclusions from the research, primarily by inferring causation from correlation, as well as cherry pickingdata that fits his narrative, and falling victim to selection bias via his use of anecdotesto back up his assertions.

COVID-19 pandemic

See also: COVID-19 misinformation. Early in the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, Berenson vocally argued that people and the media were overestimating the risk of the new virus, that it posed little risk to young Americans, and that it was being used as a cover for government overreach.[19] Many public health experts have rejected his claims.

In May 2020, Fox News announced that Berenson would host a TV show called COVID Contrarian on its online streaming platform Fox Nation. However, by July 2020, amid surges in coronavirus cases across parts of the United States, Fox News appeared to have backtracked and removed the announcement of his show from its website.[20]

In 2021, Berenson tweeted that COVID-19 vaccinations had led to 50 times more adverse effects than flu vaccine. PolitiFact rated the claim "mostly false".[21] The Atlantic called him "The pandemic's wrongest man", owing to what they termed his "dangerously, unflaggingly, and superlatively wrong" claims of the vaccine's ineffectiveness.[22]

On January 25, 2022, Berenson appeared on the Fox News show Tucker Carlson Tonight declaring that existing mRNA vaccines are "dangerous and ineffective" against COVID-19, and further demanding that they be withdrawn from the market immediately.[23] The Washington Posts Philip Bump denounced Carlson for "inviting Berenson on, despite his proven track record of misinformation and cherry-picking" and observed that "Berenson's claims went unchallenged."[24]

Twitter suspension and reinstatement

On August 28, 2021, Twitter permanently suspended Berenson for repeated violations of its policy on COVID-19 misinformation, but after Berenson filed suit in December 2021 demanding reinstatement, Twitter reinstated Berenson's account in early summer 2022, in a "mutually acceptable resolution".[25] This reinstatement was referred to as "significant" by The Atlantic, given that most social-media-banned people fail to win their court cases.[26]

Berenson did not regain Twitter access because of a First-Amendment free speech claim, which was rejected by the judge. Eric Goldman, a law professor at Santa Clara University School of Law, theorizes that Twitter settled because of documentation of promises made to Berenson by a high-level Twitter employee concerning the nature of his tweets. Goldman stated that Internet company executives have always been advised by their attorneys not to make promises to or even to speak to anyone about their individual accounts "for reasons that should now be obvious".

Books

Novels

John Wells series

No. Title Publisher Date Genre ISBN
The Power Couple February 9, 2021 Mystery, Thriller Simon & Schuster

Non-fiction

Awards

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Jacqueline Basha, Alex Berenson . 24 June 2022 . . May 9, 2009.
  2. News: Grynbaum. Michael M.. Hsu. Tiffany. Kanno-Youngs. Zolan. 2021-07-20. On Fox News, Vaccination Pleas Intensify, but Skepticism Persists. en-US. The New York Times. 2021-07-21. 0362-4331.
  3. Web site: PolitiFact - CDC says more young people hospitalized from vaccine than COVID-19 itself? False. 2021-07-21. @politifact. en-US.
  4. News: 2021-07-09. Fact Check The CDC did not say fewer young people are hospitalized from COVID-19 than from vaccinations. en. Reuters. 2021-07-21.
  5. Web site: Alex Berenson Biography . https://web.archive.org/web/20100201031552/http://www.alexberenson.com/?page_id=25 . dead . 1 February 2010 . 12 September 2010 .
  6. Freedlander, David. "Does the King of the COVID-19 Contrarians Have a Case? Alex Berenson, thriller writer, former Timesman, and marijuana alarmist, thinks scientists, politicians, and the media are fueling coronavirus hysteria. Some scientists think he's dead wrong. 'He should go back to school to learn some science,' says one.", Vanity Fair, April 16, 2020. Accessed August 31, 2021. "Berenson's upbringing seems tailor-made for the media elite, growing up in Englewood, New Jersey, and attending Horace Mann and then Yale, where he graduated in 1994."
  7. Web site: Berenson . Alex . Alex Berenson - The New York Times . Topics.nytimes.com . 2010-09-12. https://web.archive.org/web/20101004125113/http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/b/alex_berenson/index.html. 4 October 2010 . live.
  8. News: Anti-marijuana author to visit Colorado Springs, share findings . 2019-03-19 . Boster . Seth . . 2020-04-17.
  9. Web site: Living the Spy Life. The Highlands Current. February 16, 2014. Rowe. Chip. September 1, 2021.
  10. Web site: The Faithful Spy . NPR . 2020-04-17.
  11. Web site: Alex Berenson . The Daily Beast . February 12, 2014 . 2020-04-17.
  12. Web site: Hardcover Fiction . 2010-02-28 . The New York Times . 2020-04-17.
  13. Web site: Hardcover Fiction . 2011-02-27 . The New York Times . 2020-04-17.
  14. Web site: Hardcover Fiction . 2012-03-11 . The New York Times . 2020-04-17.
  15. Book: Tixier Herald . Diana . Stavole-Carter . Samuel . Genreflecting: A Guide to Popular Reading Interests . 206 . 2019 . . 8th . 9781440858482 .
  16. Web site: Ian Fleming Steel Dagger award nominees announced . 2012-07-10 . MI6-HQ.com . 2020-04-17.
  17. Web site: The Shadow Patrol . The Crime Writers' Association . 2020-04-17.
  18. https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/04/16/return-reefer-madness/ The return of ‘reefer madness’
  19. Freedlander . David . Does the King of the COVID-19 Contrarians Have a Case? . 4 May 2020 . Vanity Fair . April 16, 2020.
  20. Web site: As coronavirus surges, Fox News shifts its message on masks. 2020-07-02. news.yahoo.com. July 2, 2020 . en-US.
  21. Web site: PolitiFact - A claim comparing adverse events for COVID-19, flu vaccines exaggerates raw data. 2021-07-17. @politifact. en-US.
  22. Web site: Thompson. Derek. 2021-04-01. The Pandemic's Wrongest Man. 2021-04-01. The Atlantic. en.
  23. Web site: Ramírez. Nikki. Alex Berenson tells Fox viewers: "The mRNA COVID vaccines need to be withdrawn from the market. No one should get them. No one should get boosted. No one should get double boosted. They are a dangerous and ineffective product at this point.". 25 January 2022. Media Matters for America. 25 January 2022. en.
  24. News: Bump. Philip. Tucker Carlson airs his most dishonest and dangerous pandemic segment yet. The Washington Post. 2022-01-26. 2022-01-27.
  25. News: Bolies . Corbin . COVID Truther Alex Berenson Finally Banned From Twitter . 29 August 2021 . The Daily Beast . 29 August 2021 . en.
  26. News: A Prominent Vaccine Skeptic Returns to Twitter . Tiffany . Kaitlyn . . August 24, 2022 . Berenson's victory was not based on his argument that his ban was a violation of the First Amendment; the judge rejected this claim. Instead, his success seems to have hinged on promises made to him by a high-level Twitter employee. “The points you’re raising should not be an issue at all,” the company’s then–vice president of global communications assured Berenson at one point, according to the complaint. The lawsuit says the same executive later told Berenson that his name had “never come up in the discussions” about Twitter’s COVID-19 misinformation policies. Goldman believes that the court’s decision to allow a claim based on that correspondence prompted Twitter to settle. Internet-service executives have always been instructed by lawyers not to talk with people about their individual accounts and not to make any promises about what might happen, Goldman said, "for reasons that should now be obvious"..
  27. Web site: The Edgars 2007 - Best First Novel By An American Author. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20100312070612/http://www.theedgars.com/nominees07.html#bestfirst. 2010-03-12. 12 September 2010. The Edgars 2007. Mystery Writers of America.