James Poniewozik joined TIME as media and television critic in July 1999. He has written in-depth stories for the magazine on subjects from the "Reality TV" craze to The Sopranos, and has written essays, features and reviews on subjects ranging from international media coverage of the war in Iraq, to the influence of 9/11 on popular culture, to Hollywood on the mafia. He has also written widely on books, movies, comic books, the news media and pop culture in general.

Poniewozik was the media critic and media section editor at Salon.com from 1997 to 1999, where he wrote two columns a week of media criticism for the acclaimed online magazine. He covered subjects ranging from advertising to Internet radio to TV shelter shows to the cultural significance of eBay and Antiques Roadshow.

Prior to Salon, he worked for several years in publishing in New York and has contributed to such publications as Fortune,Rolling Stone, New York, The New York Times Book Review, Suck.com and Talk. He also a regular radio commentator for NPR's "On the Media" and "All Things Considered."

A native of Monroe, Michigan, Poniewozik graduated with a BA in English from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and attended the graduate program in fiction writing at New York University.

He currently resides in Brooklyn, NY.