Behind every narrative, there’s power. We follow it.
MediaPowerMonitor maps the actors, structures and channels that shape information — and helps make visible who is speaking, who stands behind them and how influence travels.
From media power to information provenance
MediaPowerMonitor was established in 2015 as a platform for examining the relationships between media, power and public narratives.
Over the years, MPMONITOR has worked with journalists, researchers and local experts across many countries to understand who shapes media narratives, how ownership and institutional power affect information systems, and how those structures change over time.
As the information environment changed, the project expanded beyond conventional media ownership. Today, information is produced and distributed not only by media organisations but also by political actors, technology platforms, telecom companies, advertisers, corporate communicators, agencies, civil-society organisations and other intermediaries.
MPMONITOR therefore focuses increasingly on a broader question: where does information come from, who is behind it, and through which structures and channels does it reach people?
Built since 2015
The present Provenance Database builds on more than a decade of accumulated MPMONITOR research, historical records and longitudinal mapping. It continues to expand as new actors, channels and relationships become relevant.
What MPMONITOR does today
The project combines a public map of information actors with deeper analytical work on the structures that connect them.
We map the actors
Media, political organisations, platforms, telecom operators, advertising networks, corporations, regulators and other entities that matter in national information environments.
We connect the structures
Cross-border ownership, corporate networks, telecom-media relationships, advertising systems, distribution infrastructure and other documented links.
We investigate for clients
MJRC prepares bespoke provenance, network and information-ecosystem studies for organisations that need substantially deeper evidence and analysis.
A public window onto a deeper research capability
The public Provenance Directory intentionally shows only a limited layer of the underlying research: which entities MPMONITOR maps, what broad role they play, and where their principal public channels can be found.
Detailed ownership structures, funding relationships, historical changes, distribution pathways, communication networks and analytical assessments are not routinely exposed through the public entity cards.
Organisations that need this deeper layer can commission a study through the Media and Journalism Research Center (MJRC). Each assignment is scoped specifically around the client’s question and proceeds under an agreed research proposal and contract.
What sits behind the public map
Depending on the research question, MPMONITOR’s deeper work can examine several layers that are deliberately not displayed in full on the public directory.
Ownership and structures
Parent companies, subsidiaries, controlling interests, beneficial ownership where identifiable and relevant historical changes.
Funding and commercial relationships
Advertising, sponsorship, public funding, procurement, revenue structures and other material economic relationships.
Communication footprint
Websites, platforms, broadcast assets, apps, messaging environments and other channels associated with the actor.
How messages travel
Platforms, advertising systems, telecom infrastructure, agencies, media buying and other intermediaries.
Who is connected
Corporate, political, institutional, commercial and cross-border relationships relevant to the information question.
What changed over time
Ownership transfers, mergers, new channels, market expansion, strategic changes and changes in communication infrastructure.
Human-led, evidence-based research
MPMONITOR’s mapping and commissioned provenance research are human-led. Researchers use combinations of corporate, regulatory, journalistic, institutional and historical sources, supported where appropriate by local expertise.
Automated and AI tools may assist discovery or organisation of information, but substantive provenance findings require human assessment and verification. Where evidence is incomplete or conflicting, uncertainty is retained rather than converted into a stronger claim than the available sources support.
MPMONITOR and MJRC
Media and Journalism Research Center
MPMONITOR operates through the Media and Journalism Research Center (MJRC), an independent research organisation focused on media, journalism, technology and information systems.
Separate from the public repository
Client commissions are handled separately from MPMONITOR’s public directory and editorial work. Commissioning research does not automatically mean the resulting analysis will be published publicly, and confidentiality requirements can be incorporated into client contracts where appropriate.
Need to understand what sits behind an information actor or network?
MJRC can design a bespoke provenance investigation, country study, network analysis or ongoing monitoring assignment around your question.
Contact and corrections
Media and Journalism Research Center
mjrc@journalismresearch.org
+44 7447 728324
journalismresearch.org ↗
See something that needs updating?
Information environments change quickly. If you identify a factual error, broken link or material change in an entity profile, contact MJRC with the relevant evidence so the record can be reviewed.