Dorothy Rabinowitz facts for kids

Dorothy Rabinowitz is an American journalist and writer. She is famous for her work and has won a Pulitzer Prize, one of the highest awards in journalism.

Rabinowitz was born in New York City. She earned her bachelor's degree from Queens College. She later studied at New York University. Since 1990, she has been an editorial writer for the Wall Street Journal. She is also a member of their editorial board. You might see her on the TV show Journal Editorial Report, where she discusses current events.

Winning the Pulitzer Prize

In 2001, Dorothy Rabinowitz won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary. This award was for a series of articles she wrote in 2000. Her articles talked about social and cultural topics in the United States.

The Pulitzer board, which chooses the winners, specifically selected her work. Her winning articles covered two main topics. Five articles were about cases where she believed people were unfairly accused of very serious wrongdoings. Four other articles were about the 2000 U.S. presidential election.

This wasn't her first time being recognized. She was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize three other times for her powerful writing on social issues and television.

Investigative Journalism

Rabinowitz is known for investigating difficult stories. She wrote a book called No Crueler Tyrannies: Accusation, False Witness, and Other Terrors of Our Times. The book is about her investigations into several high-profile cases. In these cases, she argued that the people accused were innocent.

Her work on these stories began with the Wee Care Nursery School case. She saw a news report about a young woman accused of thousands of crimes against children. Rabinowitz found it hard to believe. She questioned how one person could do so much in a public place without anyone noticing.

She wondered why none of the children told their parents if something bad was happening. This story seemed strange to her. Her deep look into this case led The Wall Street Journal to hire her as a writer.

Political Views

Rabinowitz often writes about politics and politicians. She has shared her opinions on presidential candidates like John McCain.

In 2013, she spoke out against the Citi Bike program in New York City. This program lets people rent bikes to travel around the city. Rabinowitz called the program "dreadful." She described the city's leaders, like Mayor Michael Bloomberg, as being too controlling. She also said the "bike lobby," or the group of people supporting more bike lanes, was "all-powerful."