Media Tenor

Media Tenor International AG is a Swiss company specialising in media analysis. Registered in Rapperswil-Jona (previously Zurich and Lugano), it examines media using the method of qualitative content analysis. The company states that it maintains locations in Africa, Asia, Europe and North America and studies the influence of media on how people perceive and behave. Among other activities, Media Tenor contributes to the production of the Oekonom (Oekonomen). The business traces its origins to the entrepreneur Roland Schatz, who since 1985 has founded several companies with related activities under various, often similar names in different countries. He began with the periodical Innovatio, which ceased publication in 1992. In 1993 he founded the Medien Monitor association for media content analysis (Medien Monitor-Verein für Medieninhaltsanalyse e.V.), which from 1994 published the fortnightly Medien Monitor. Following an intervention by the German broadcaster WDR over the risk of confusion with its TV magazine Monitor, the publication was renamed Medien Tenor after a few weeks, and the association became simply Verein für Medieninhaltsanalyse e.V. Over the following decades the Media Tenor name was used by a succession of entities in Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, South Africa, Vietnam and Austria, alongside the Swiss parent. The German institute Medien Tenor Institut für Medienanalysen GmbH went insolvent in 2005; its successor Media Tenor Deutschland GmbH was founded in 2005 and itself entered insolvency proceedings in 2008. Media Tenor International AG was founded in Switzerland in 2005 and continues to operate from Rapperswil-Jona. Media Tenor's methodology claims to evaluate the content of opinion-leading media statement by statement, both quantitatively and qualitatively, recording whether each statement is negative, positive or neutral according to a codebook that the company says now contains 115,000 indicators. Coders undergo training before working on the analyses. The company's work has been used for election analyses, notably in the United States, and for monitoring how organisations and issues are portrayed in the news.

The origins of Media Tenor lie with the entrepreneur Roland Schatz, who since 1985 has founded several companies with related activities under various, often similar names in different countries. He began with the periodical Innovatio, whose publication ceased in 1992. Its later publisher, Innovatio Verlags GmbH, existed from 1990 to 1995. In 1993 Schatz founded the Medien Monitor-Verein für Medieninhaltsanalyse e.V., which acted as publisher of the publication Medien Monitor, initially appearing fortnightly from 1994. Following an intervention by the German broadcaster WDR over the risk of confusion with its TV magazine Monitor, Medien Monitor was renamed Medien Tenor after a few weeks, and the association was then called simply Verein für Medieninhaltsanalyse e.V. The publisher of the Medien Tenor research report was the Innovatio Verlags AG, founded in 1987 with its original seat in Fribourg, Switzerland. As with the various Media Tenor companies, the seat was subsequently moved to Lugano, Zurich and Rapperswil-Jona. A later publisher of the Medien Tenor research report until March 2005 was Medien Tenor Institut für Medienanalysen GmbH, which entered insolvency in 2005. Schatz blamed the insolvency on poor payment discipline among his clients such as Fiat and Volkswagen, while a claim arising from an assignment for Deutsche Bank was disputed. The insolvency administrator Dirk Obermüller, by contrast, saw a strategically unfavourable property purchase as one of the main reasons for the inability to pay. At the successor company Media Tenor Deutschland GmbH, Schatz was at one point dismissed as managing director but later rehired. Founded in Bonn, the company was re-registered in October 2007 to Rolandseck (commercial register of the Amtsgericht Koblenz). Lugano in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland was given as the seat, while the company address continued to be in Rolandseck. On 22 November 2007 preliminary insolvency proceedings for Media Tenor Deutschland GmbH were applied for at the Bonn tax office; on 2 January 2008 the insolvency proceedings were opened. In Bonn, former employees sued the company, claiming they had not been properly dismissed. In the meantime the company's name is Media Tenor International AG, and its postal address, after several changes, is now in Rapperswil-Jona. The insolvent Medien Tenor Institut für Medienanalysen GmbH was deleted ex officio from the commercial register of the Amtsgericht Bonn in 2017 for lack of assets. As early as 2008 the Amtsgericht Koblenz had entered the dissolution of Media Tenor Deutschland GmbH in the commercial register ex officio; in 2012 Roland Schatz was likewise deleted ex officio as managing director pursuant to § 395 FamFG (deletion of inadmissible entries). A Media Tenor Limited operated in parallel in Dover, United Kingdom, was compulsorily struck from the registers as early as January 2005. According to an extract from the agency Companies House, which is subordinate to the British Ministry for Business, the company last fulfilled its reporting obligations in spring 2002. Public prosecutor investigations led in 2010 to charges against Schatz. From 23 February to 1 July 2010 the proceedings were heard before the Landgericht Bonn on charges of breach of trust, fraudulent bankruptcy, delay in filing for insolvency and withholding employee contributions for social insurance and the pension fund. Schatz ultimately confessed to 11 counts and was sentenced to a suspended sentence with the condition that he pay the outstanding social contributions for all employees. The Oberlandesgericht Köln later corrected the judgment in some details of the probation conditions. The Bundesverfassungsgericht did not accept Schatz's complaint against the suspended sentence. In 2012 Schatz fought the judgment with a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights. A timeline of company foundations includes: 1993 founding of the Medien Monitor association for media analysis e.V. in Germany; 1994 renaming to Medien Tenor because WDR saw its economic basis endangered by the publication of the eight-page newsletter; 1996 founding of Media Tenor Ltd. in the UK and in the Czech Republic; 1997 additional founding of Medien Tenor Institut für Medienanalyse GmbH in Germany to continue the analyses in Leipzig, while the association continued in parallel in Bonn under the leadership of Prof. Wolfgang Donsbach (insolvency 2005); transfer of the English Ltd. into the new foundation (Media Tenor Ltd.) in the USA at the beginning of the US election analyses conducted since then; 2000 founding of Media Tenor South Africa; 2005 founding of Media Tenor Deutschland GmbH and takeover of all rights and obligations of Medien Tenor Institut für Medienanalyse GmbH (dissolution 2008); 2005 founding of Media Tenor International AG in Switzerland; 2012 founding of Media Tenor Vietnam; 2015 founding of Media Tenor GmbH in Austria. Methodologically, Media Tenor claims to evaluate the content of opinion-leading media statement by statement, quantitatively and qualitatively. Besides individual statements, it records whether they are negative or positive in valence or remain neutral. Which statements are recorded how is prescribed by a 'codebook' which the company says now comprises 115,000 indicators. Every coder undergoes training before working on the analyses.

• 2017

  Medien Tenor Institut für Medienanalysen GmbH deleted from the commercial register for lack of assets.

• 2015

  Founding of Media Tenor GmbH in Austria.

• 2012

  Founding of Media Tenor Vietnam; Roland Schatz deleted ex officio as managing director.

• 2010

  Trial of Roland Schatz before the Landgericht Bonn; he confesses to 11 counts and receives a suspended sentence.

• 2008

  Insolvency proceedings for Media Tenor Deutschland GmbH opened; dissolution entered in the commercial register.

• 2007

  Media Tenor Deutschland GmbH re-registered to Rolandseck; preliminary insolvency applied for in November.

• 2005

  Founding of Media Tenor Deutschland GmbH and of Media Tenor International AG in Switzerland; Medien Tenor Institut für Medienanalysen GmbH enters insolvency.

• 2005

  Media Tenor Limited in Dover, UK, compulsorily struck from the registers.

• 2000

  Founding of Media Tenor South Africa.

• 1997

  Founding of Medien Tenor Institut für Medienanalyse GmbH in Germany (Leipzig).

• 1996

  Founding of Media Tenor Ltd. in the UK and in the Czech Republic.

• 1994

  Renaming to Medien Tenor after WDR objected to the name Medien Monitor.

• 1993

  Founding of the Medien Monitor association for media analysis e.V. in Germany.

Specialist provider of statement-by-statement qualitative and quantitative media content analysis for measuring media influence on perception and behaviour.

• Media content analysis

  Statement-by-statement qualitative and quantitative evaluation of opinion-leading media.

• Medien Tenor research report

  Research publication on media content analysis.

• Election and campaign media analysis

  Media analysis conducted around elections, notably in the United States.

• Insolvency and criminal proceedings against Roland Schatz

Read more

• Renaming Medien Monitor to Medien TenorOther

1. 1Media Tenor – Wikipedia (German)de.wikipedia.org
2. 2Media Tenor – Wikidatawikidata.org