[2] Born in Yazoo County, Mississippi, he attended Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, originally intending to pursue a career in law.
[2][4] Pinkston began his career at WLBT-TV in Jackson, Mississippi, where he worked as an anchor and reported from 1971 until 1974.
From 1976 until 1980, Pinkston worked for WFSB-TV in Hartford, where he served as a reporter, an anchor and the producer of several public affairs programs and specials.
[2] He has covered the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the U.S. intervention in Haiti, the Unabomber story, the standoff involving the Montana Freemen and the trial of Susan Smith.
Pinkston and his wife, Patricia McLain, live in Teaneck, New Jersey, in Bergen County.