About the Business and Media Institute

Journalists are challenged every day to make sense of complicated business and economic issues. The Business & Media Institute (formerly the Free Market Project) aims to help the media do that essential job as well as possible and to monitor their performance.

According to a survey by the National Council on Economic Education, 79% of Americans get the majority of their economic information from television. The study determined that an astounding 61% of the general public could not answer questions about basic economic concepts. These results show that most Americans do not understand or appreciate our nation's dynamic free enterprise system. Unfortunately, the single most powerful cultural force in America – the news and entertainment media – often don't either. Even good journalists, who are bombarded with mountains of information daily, need a helping hand to have an informed understanding of our nation’s free enterprise system.

Before the Media Research Center (MRC) launched the Business & Media Institute (BMI) in 1992, there was no entity in America devoted solely to analyzing and exposing the anti-free enterprise culture of the media. With the BMI in operation, that void has been filled.

The mission of BMI is to audit the media’s coverage of the free enterprise system. It is our goal to bring balance to economic reporting and to promote fair portrayal of the business community in the media. Providing resources for journalists, such as connections to sources who can speak intelligently about the economy, is one way we pursue this end. BMI is the economics division of the Media Research Center, and it is the only organization in the world dedicated to the unique challenge of correcting misconceptions about free enterprise in the media.

BMI has produced numerous pieces of research, many of which received critical acclaim in the national media. BMI focuses on the culture of the free enterprise system. Analysts research and assess material concerning taxes, regulation, government spending, the environment, Social Security, and business.

America needs the Business & Media Institute to assist the media and challenge them to produce material that is both accurate and informed. The Media Research Center and the Business & Media Institute intend to continue this important work, but only by working together can we ensure accurate coverage of one of America’s greatest assets – its free enterprise system.

The Business & Media Institute is a division of the Media Research Center, a nonprofit watchdog organization that strives to bring balance and responsibility to the media.

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Media Research Center
325 S. Patrick Street
Alexandria, VA 22314
Ph. (703) 683-9733