Der Spiegel

Der Spiegel is one of Germany's most influential news publications, originally a weekly magazine and now also a major online outlet based in Hamburg. Known for its investigative journalism, it is generally regarded as centre-left in orientation. The publication covers German and international politics, economics, and society and has a long history of high-profile reporting.

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Der Spiegel at a glance

Country: Germany
Region: Western Europe · Europe
Kind of outlet: News magazine
Editorial leaning: Centrist
Founded: 1947
Owner: Spiegel-Verlag (majority-owned by its staff)
Published from: Hamburg
Website: spiegel.de ↗
Preview: Renders inside Crosswire's comparison panes (last checked 2026-10-12).

Founding, ownership and location are directory records without individual source citations here. Ownership can change; verify these details with the publisher before quoting them. The preview status comes from the weekly audit that requests every outlet through Crosswire's own edge — see how the fetcher identifies itself.

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How Crosswire groups Der Spiegel

Crosswire groups Der Spiegel as Centrist for comparisons within Germany's directory. Center includes both centrist outlets and outlets for which the directory has no confident classification. It is not evidence that this outlet is neutral or more accurate. In Germany, taz is listed as Left-leaning, while BILD and Die Welt are listed as Right-leaning — so you can open Der Spiegel beside a title of a different orientation and compare the same day's front pages directly.

Compare Der Spiegel with another outlet from Germany covering the same event and edition. Record the headline, publication time, named sources and links to original evidence. Similar leaning labels can still produce different coverage; a different label does not guarantee an independent source. Check the articles before interpreting a front-page difference as bias.

This is an approximate orientation, not a definitive judgement — and not a rating of quality or accuracy. Read how Crosswire classifies editorial leanings. This profile does not include an individual assessment citation. Page updated 2026-09-28; this is a content-change date, not a fresh fact-check of the outlet. Think this label is wrong? Suggest a correction.

Where Der Spiegel sits in Germany's press

Der Spiegel was founded in 1947, is published from Hamburg and is owned by Spiegel-Verlag (majority-owned by its staff). It is one of 11 outlets tracked in Germany, and one of 2 news magazines among them — the other being Focus. By outlets tracked, Germany ranks second of the 45 countries on Crosswire's Europe hub, which lists 264 outlets in all.

Across Europe, Crosswire tracks 6 of the 11 news magazines in the directory. The nearest counterparts to Der Spiegel outside Germany, starting with Western Europe, are L'Express (France), De Groene Amsterdammer (Netherlands) and Monaco Hebdo (Monaco). Opening one of them beside Der Spiegel is the quickest way to see what is a house style and what is a national one.