Bob Pondillo publishes new introductory media textbook

EMC’s Bob Pondillo, Ph.D., is a published author yet again.

“American Media and Social Institutions,” published by Cognella Academic Publishing, is designed for use in introductory mass media and American culture classes. The book provides an excellent foundation for students examining the culture of journalism, recording and popular music, and radio broadcasting. It contains a compilation of 12 articles plus additional chapters exploring media ideology, movies, TV, the Internet and First Amendment issues.

Pondillo wrote the introduction to the book along with subsequent introductions to each chapter, instructing students on what to look for as they read the articles. “American Media and Social Institutions” also comes with study questions and suggested review times for each chapter.

This is Pondillo’s second academic book. He also wrote “America’s First Network TV Censor: The Work of NBC’s Stockton Helffrich,” a look at early television censorship focusing on the papers of Helffrich, the first head of censorship at NBC. Helffrich’s reports demonstrate how early censorship of advertising, language and depictions of sex, violence and race shaped the medium.

Pondillo is an Emmy award-winning writer and producer and has worked in the media industry for more than 30 years. In his 14 years at MTSU, Pondillo has written/directed/produced six narrative, award-winning short films in addition to publishing his two books. He teaches mass media history and screenwriting. He plans to retire after the 2014 summer semester.

With retirement coming up soon, Pondillo on April 16 will deliver a lecture entitled “Why College?” as part of the university’s Last Lecture series.