John Baer

John M. Baer is a political columnist with The (Harrisburg, Pa.) Patriot-News/PennLive, formerly with The Philadelphia Daily News/Philadelphia Inquirer. Career Baer has won numerous awards for column-writing and investigative journalism, including honors from the Associated Press Managing Editors, the Pennsylvania Society of Professional Journalists and the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association. In 2018, he won First Place in the Pennsylvania Bar Association's Media Awards for commentary on issues of law and justice. In 2015, he won First Place for column-writing in the Pennsylvania Newsmedia Association's Keystone Press Awards and First Place for column-writing from the Associated Press Managing Editors. He was a recipient of the Pennsylvania Newsmedia Association's 2015 Benjamin Franklin Award for Excellence in recognition of "outstanding service" to the Pennsylvania newspaper industry. He was a recipient of the 2014 Common Cause of Pennsylvania Media Award for "distinguished reporting" on ethics and accountability in government. He is the author of the book "On the Front Lines of Pennsylvania Politics: Twenty-Five Years of Keystone Reporting"(The History Press, 2012). He is a founder and president of the Pennsylvania Press Club and a board member and past president of the Pennsylvania Legislative Correspondents Association. In 2009, he was awarded the Simon Brute Medal by the Mount St. Mary's University National Alumni Association. In 2020, he was interviewed by Penn State University's Department of Journalism for inclusion in its Pennsylvania Journalists Oral History Program.