Robert James Bidinotto is an award-winning author, journalist and lecturer, specializing in cultural and political analysis from an Objectivist perspective.
A nationally-recognized expert on crime, he is perhaps best known for his article "Getting Away With Murder" in the July 1988 Reader's Digest. That investigative piece stirred a national controversy about crime and prison furlough programs during the 1988 presidential election campaign, and helped make convicted killer Willie Horton a household name. The Almanac of American Politics 1990 called Bidinotto's article "the most influential piece of journalism in the whole campaign." It was honored by the American Society of Magazine Editors as one of five finalists for best magazine story of 1988 in the "Public Interest" category.
His many other writings on crime also include investigations for Reader's Digest on parole and probation abuses, sex criminals, secrecy of criminal "rap sheets" and lavish prison conditions.
In 1995, Bidinotto edited a book, Criminal Justice? The Legal System Versus Individual Responsibility, which was acclaimed nationally by major law enforcement and victims rights figures. More recently, he authored Freed to Kill (Safe Streets Coalition, 1996), a compendium of horror stories about the failures of our criminal justice system.
During the National Victims' Rights Week ceremony in New York City on April 21, 1991, a coalition of 22 victims' groups presented Bidinotto their 1991 Media Award, "for sensitivity and fairness in reporting victims' issues." In 1996, he was similarly given the media award of the Philadelphia Coalition of Crime Victim Advocates.
Bidinotto's many writings on environmental issues include investigative articles for Reader's Digest on global warming and the 1989 Alar scare. The 1991 Media Guide praised Bidinotto's global warming article as "a big story...with important information." His Alar article was singled out for editorial praise by Barron's business weekly, by The American Vegetable Grower and by Priorities, the journal of the American Council on Science and Health. In addition, his highly praised analysis of the radical environmental movement and philosophy, "The Green Machine," was published as a monograph by the Institute for Objectivist Studies.
His many articles, essays, columns, book and film reviews have appeared in Success, The Boston Herald, The Freeman, The American Spectator, City Journal, Reason, The Intellectual Activist, The IOS Journal and many others. Bidinotto's wide-ranging work also has been cited, reprinted and discussed in such major media outlets as U. S. News & World Report, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, The Boston Herald, The Detroit News, The Miami Herald, Advertising Age, Forbes, Liberty, The Spectator of London, The Alberta Report in Canada and many other books, newspapers and magazines.
In 1985, the Free Press Association awarded Bidinotto its prestigious Mencken Award for Best Feature Story, for an article on the dangers of government regulation of broadcasting.
In addition, he is a popular lecturer, and has appeared as a guest on scores of radio and television talk shows, including "The Rush Limbaugh Show," "Geraldo," CBS radio's "Crosstalk," CNN's "Sonya Live," "The Bob Grant Show," "The Lowell Ponte Show," CNBC's "Rivera Live," National Empowerment Television and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation radio network.
Bidinotto lives in Poughkeepsie, New York, where he is a member of the staff of the Institute for Objectivist Studies. He is at work on a variety of projects, including a long novel of ideas.