About
I’m an award-winning multimedia journalist and photographer. I am a senior editor for Block Club Chicago, a nonprofit digital news publication covering the city’s neighborhoods.
I was recognized as Chicago’s 2021 Journalist of the Year in this role. I received national and local recognition for an investigation that revealed Chicago-area COVID-19 testing companies received more than $500 million from the federal government while offering fake test results, leading to those companies shutting down and being investigated by various state and federal agencies. I also led an award-winning investigative series that showed how executives at Loretto Hospital, a publicly funded hospital meant to serve low-income Chicagoans, allowed well-connected friends to cut the vaccine line — with the hospital CFO bragging he’d gotten Eric Trump vaccinated.
I manage a team of reporters, freelancers and interns. I find and assign them stories, review their pitches, guide reporting and edit stories. I also write multiple stories daily, coordinate Block Club’s breaking news coverage and live tweet breaking news and news conferences.
I plan and manage staff-wide special projects, including coordinating Block Club’s award-winning 2023 mayoral election coverage, planning our LGBTQ+ news section and organizing our award-winning “Year of Loss” project, which chronicled losses during the pandemic.
I worked at DNAinfo Chicago May 2015-November 2017. I primarily covered breaking news and crime, with a focus on memorializing victims of Chicago’s gun violence and helping readers understand how violence impacts the city’s families.
At DNAinfo, I covered national events like protests after police killed Laquan McDonald and the CEO of Chicago Public Schools pleading guilty to corruption charges. I also focused on human interest stories that highlight the people hit hardest by the city’s violence, covering mothers slain in front of their children and the assassination of a 9-year-old boy, but also showcasing the way communities have rallied to fight violence and injustice.
I regularly take photos, produce videos and participate in radio and TV segments. I speak with high school and college journalism students, and I mentor and encourage young reporters.
I can be reached at my email, BauerJournalism@gmail.com. Find me on Twitter as @BauerJournalism.