Free Market Project Gets
a New Name: Business & Media Institute
By Dan Gainor
In early May, the MRC’s Free Market
Project, for which I serve as director, changed its name to the
Business and Media Institute (BMI).
A change was needed because (1) the Free
Market Project, or FMP, moniker did not convey its link to the media
or to media coverage of business and markets; and (2) research
showed that, outside of economic and academic circles, many people
do not know what "free market" means. It is, simply, abstract, and
one needs to be precise and lucid in today’s information-dominant
world.
The new name, Business & Media Institute
(
www.businessandmedia.org),
provides clarity to outsiders unfamiliar with our long history of
documenting, exposing and correcting media bias against the culture
of free enterprise. Talk radio hosts and experts in Washington’s
think tank community agree that the new name simplifies the question
about what types of topics we handle. It is our goal to be on the
front lines of all business and media issues. The new name will make
that easier.
The BMI’s mission statement,
"Advancing the culture of free enterprise in America," explains what
the Business & Media Institute is about and why it exists. The
liberal media, by and large, do not understand basic economics, they
do not understand prices, they don’t understand or appreciate
entrepreneurs, they criticize successful big businesses, and they
have an irrational (and hypocritical) hostility toward capitalism
and private property. In short, they don’t understand the economic
roots of America’s business success – free enterprise – and they
thus mis-report or willfully deceive Americans through their
inadequate and biased coverage. The liberal media have turned
business into a caricature and ignored the fact that free enterprise
is the backbone of American success.
The Business & Media Institute is going
to change that. In fact, we already have to a degree, with more than
160 radio interviews so far in 2006 reaching several million
Americans, a weekly newsletter, and op-eds published in TheWashington Times, Human Events and Investor’s
Business Daily. We are moving forward, and we thank you, MRC
supporters, for providing the means for the BMI to advance the
culture of free enterprise in America.
