Bierbauer is a graduate of Emmaus High School in Emmaus, Pennsylvania and Penn State, where he earned three degrees: a bachelor's degree in Russian, a bachelor's degree in journalism, and a master's degree in journalism. Penn State has named him a distinguished alumnus and alumni fellow.
Early career
A precursor to Bierbauer's professional career lay in the creation of KBOK Radio in Sinop, Turkey while assigned there with TUSLOG Det 4 in 1962-1963 with the Army Security Agency. At Sinop, a cadre of young soldiers worked wiring the remote base for radio. Bierbauer reported news, did play-by-play base sports and hosted a jazz show. He started his commercial broadcast career as a radio reporter for WKAP radio in Allentown, Pennsylvania, in 1963. He also worked in print journalism, writing for The Morning Call in Allentown. He was a reporter with the Associated Press in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1967 to 1968, and a Chicago Daily News correspondent in Bonn, Germany. He joined Westinghouse Radio in 1969 as its Eastern European correspondent based in Vienna, Austria, and transferred to Bonn, Germany, in 1970, continuing to cover Germany and Eastern Europe. In 1974, he became Group W's foreign editor based in London. In 1976, Group W assigned Bierbauer as a television reporter for its Philadelphia station, KYW, where he remained through 1977.
Television career
Bierbauer was an overseas correspondent for ABC News, first as Moscow bureau chief and later as the Bonn bureau chief. Prior to that, he worked in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, London, Bonn and Vienna as a correspondent for Westinghouse Broadcasting. Bierbauer joined CNN in 1981 and remained for more than 20 years, leaving the network in 2001. He was CNN's Pentagon correspondent from 1981-1984, its Senior White House Correspondent from 1984-1993, and Senior Washington Correspondent from 1993-2001. From 1997-2001, he covered the U.S. Supreme Court and legal affairs. In 2001, he was reporter and producer for a Discovery Channel documentary on the September 11, 2001 attacks. He served as a member of the National Council for Media & Public Affairs at George Washington University and is on the advisory board for the Washington Center for Politics and Journalism. In 1997, he won an Emmy Award for anchoring CNN coverage of the 1996 Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta, Georgia. He also is a recipient of the ACE Award from the Association for Cable Excellence and the Overseas Press Club Award for Group W's reporting of the Yom Kippur War.
College Dean
Bierbauer became the first dean of the newly merged College of Mass Communications and Information Studies at the University of South Carolina in July 2002 and served in that position until August 2017. While in Washington, he was a lecturer for the Penn State program in Washington and a member of the College of Communications Board of Visitors, as well as a member of the alumni association's Communications Advisory Board.
Family
Bierbauer is of German descent and is married to Susanne Schafer, an Associate Press reporter and formerly the Pentagon correspondent for the AP. He has four children and eight grandchildren.
