Media Influence Matrix
The Media Influence Matrix (MIM) examines the forces that shape journalism and the wider public information environment: regulation and policy, ownership and funding, and the technologies and platforms through which information is produced, distributed and governed.
A map of information power
MIM is not simply a media-ownership project. It studies the interacting political, economic and technological forces that shape the conditions under which journalism and public information operate.
Why it exists
Media systems cannot be understood by studying news organisations alone. Regulators, governments, owners, funders, telecom operators, platforms, AI companies, cloud providers, advertising systems and other intermediaries can all exercise material influence over the information environment.
MIM provides a common framework for identifying these actors and tracing how their power is exercised within national and transnational information systems.
What MIM is designed to answer
Who sets the rules? Who owns and funds the organisations involved? Which companies and technologies control access, distribution and monetisation? And how do these forms of influence interact?
The purpose is comparative evidence: to make different forms of information power visible across countries and over time.
Three pillars of influence
The revised MIM framework retains the project’s original concern with regulation, funding and technology, but expands the universe of actors and replaces static country narratives with standardised, comparable data structures.
Regulation & Policy Influence
Regulators, governments, public authorities, legislation, oversight institutions and formal or informal actors that shape the rules governing information and communication.
Provenance & Funding Mapping
Ownership, control, capital, public and private funding, financial dependence and other economic relationships affecting media and information actors.
Technology, Platforms & AI Infrastructure
Platforms, telecoms, cloud and hosting companies, AI firms, advertising systems and technological infrastructures that shape production, visibility, distribution and monetisation.
From comparative reports to a living research system
The change in methodology does not erase the original body of MIM research. It creates a clear historical archive and a new generation of work built for a very different information environment.
The report era
MIM country studies were produced as substantial narrative reports organised around regulation, funding and technology. These reports remain part of the MIM evidence base and should be read as the project’s first methodological generation.
Explore the legacy methodology →The database era
The revised framework broadens the actors under study and moves toward standardised entities, variables and comparable country datasets. Implementation is underway; new country outputs produced under the 2025+ methodology are forthcoming.
Read the current methodology →MIM and GMFM: related, but distinct
The Global Media Finances Map grew out of MIM’s work on ownership, funding and economic power. It has since developed into a standalone MJRC project with its own methodology, company registries and financial datasets. The two projects inform one another without being the same research product.
Who shapes the information environment?
MIM maps regulatory, political, economic and technological influence. Its unit of analysis is the broader information system and the actors capable of shaping it.
Enter MIM country research →Who are the companies, who controls them, and how do they perform?
GMFM is the corporate and financial intelligence layer: media companies, technology/platform firms and AI companies, their ownership, operating structures and financial performance.
Enter the Global Media Finances Map →The published record and the next generation
MIM’s country work spans two methodological periods. Existing reports remain valuable historical and comparative research. The new 2025+ framework is being implemented as the basis for future database-driven country outputs.
The people behind MIM
MIM has been built through an international network of country researchers, subject specialists and research assistants. The list below records contributors associated with MIM country research over the life of the project.
Open a country to see its researchers and contributors. Affiliations and biographies reflect the research record associated with the project and may refer to positions held during the relevant research period.
Argentina3 contributors
Professor and researcher specialising in media industries, ownership and communication policy.
Researcher on broadcasting business models and the political economy of communication.
Researcher on pay television companies and content producers.
Brazil7 contributors
Professor and researcher specialising in media industries, ownership and communication policy.
Professor and researcher working across communication, journalism and territorialities.
Journalism researcher whose work includes gender, sourcing and intersectionality.
Journalism research contributor.
Journalism research contributor.
Journalism research contributor.
Journalism research contributor.
Bulgaria1 contributor
Researcher with training in public policy, media and internet policy.
Colombia3 contributors
Communications and ICT specialist with expertise in digital transformation, media and telecommunications.
Journalist and researcher with experience in communication strategy and digital media.
Communications researcher with interests in media and public communication.
Czech Republic1 contributor
Director of the Media and Journalism Research Center and lead comparative researcher on media policy, ownership, funding and information power.
Georgia3 contributors
Media-policy researcher with expertise in disinformation, media business and digital policy.
Lecturer and researcher whose work includes media, policy advocacy and democracy.
Research contributor.
India4 contributors
Scholar of media policy, political economy and creative industries.
Researcher working on media governance, media policy and political economy.
Media-studies researcher interested in advertising, creative industries and media economies.
Kripa Fernandes · Prem Sylvester · Shivani Chunekar · Shubhangi Heda · Tushita Shekhar
Indonesia2 contributors
Public-policy researcher whose interests include media, communication and social-media governance.
Public-policy researcher with interests in journalism and social policy.
Israel1 contributor
Researcher in social and political sciences whose work includes Israeli politics and media.
Italy1 contributor
Researcher focused on freedom of expression, media freedom, migration, minorities and European policy.
Jordan1 contributor
Researcher in media regulatory policy and philanthropic support for independent journalism.
Kazakhstan1 contributor
Researcher focused on digital policy, government–media relations and global governance.
Kyrgyzstan1 contributor
Media activist, communications practitioner and researcher with experience in governance and civil society.
Mexico4 contributors
Professor whose work focuses on media systems, politics and business from a political-economy perspective.
Professor and researcher specialising in public and political communication.
Researcher focused on cultural sectors, public policy and regional development.
Media-policy specialist, journalist, academic and public-media ombudsman.
Pakistan2 contributors
Public-policy researcher with experience in civil society, rights, education and minority issues.
Researcher whose work includes public discourse, online intermediaries and platform governance.
Romania1 contributor
Researcher whose work has covered media, labour, migration, representation and public-interest communication.
Russia2 contributors
Legal and international-relations researcher working on human rights and authoritarian governance.
Investigative journalist with experience in corruption reporting and research on Russia.
Slovakia1 contributor
Director of the Media and Journalism Research Center and lead comparative researcher on media policy, ownership, funding and information power.
Spain7 contributors
Professor of Journalism whose work focuses on media enterprises and public service media.
Researcher focused on public-service media, digital services, regulation and global platforms.
Professor and researcher with experience in print, television and digital media, audiences and innovation.
Researcher working on media funding and technological change in media industries.
Professor specialising in communication strategies, marketing and media funding.
Journalist and professor researching the transformation and management of media industries.
Editing, translation and research assistance.
Ukraine2 contributors
Political-economy researcher with interests in media, public opinion and Eastern Europe.
Researcher in international public affairs, law, democracy promotion and human rights.
United Kingdom1 contributor
Researcher and analyst whose work has focused on media ownership, technology, telecoms and media reform.
Yemen1 contributor
Journalist and researcher with extensive experience covering conflict, human rights and corruption.
MIM is an MJRC flagship project
The Media and Journalism Research Center (MJRC) is an independent research organisation documenting the forces that shape journalism and the wider information environment. MJRC develops comparative research, databases and analytical tools for researchers, policymakers, journalists and civil society.
Media Influence Matrix launched in 2017. The 2025+ framework is the current MIM methodology. The Global Media Finances Map is presented as a separate but complementary MJRC project.