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|accessdate=9 April 2011}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url= http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-07-10/german-euro-insolvency-plan-comes-with-haircut-spiegel-says.html |title= Holders of sovereign bonds, while taking a so-called haircut, would be guaranteed half the bond’s face value as an incentive to take part in debt restructuring, Spiegel said |accessdate=9 April 2011}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12816068 |title= Here's how Spiegel puts it: "Germany is witnessing a stunning political about-face". It said ...|accessdate=9 April 2011}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url= http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2011/mar/14/new-europe-live-blog-germany |title= Der Spiegel has long been a German institution and is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand Germany or German politics |accessdate=9 April 2011}}</ref>
|accessdate=9 April 2011}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url= http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-07-10/german-euro-insolvency-plan-comes-with-haircut-spiegel-says.html |title= Holders of sovereign bonds, while taking a so-called haircut, would be guaranteed half the bond’s face value as an incentive to take part in debt restructuring, Spiegel said |accessdate=9 April 2011}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12816068 |title= Here's how Spiegel puts it: "Germany is witnessing a stunning political about-face". It said ...|accessdate=9 April 2011}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url= http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2011/mar/14/new-europe-live-blog-germany |title= Der Spiegel has long been a German institution and is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand Germany or German politics |accessdate=9 April 2011}}</ref>


==Spiegel Online==
==Online==
''Spiegel Online'' (abbreviated ''SPON'') was introduced in 1994. Initially, it was available only to [[Compuserve]] users. The first web issue followed six months later on the [[Bundesdatenautobahn]], the web's first [[content delivery network]]. Original content produced by its own editorial team is complemented by content purchased from news agencies. In addition, selected articles from the print edition are available online at no cost. The rest of the print publication is available in [[portable document format|PDF]] format for a fee. ''Spiegel Online'' has been on a tight budget since 2000. Its editors are not compensated as well as their print counterparts; instead they receive special ''Spiegel Online'' rates. In 2002 archived articles were declared premium content; they were no longer freely available and must be purchased. On 21 October 2004, an official English version called "Spiegel International" was introduced.
''Spiegel Online'' (abbreviated ''SPON'') was introduced in 1994. Initially, it was available only to [[Compuserve]] users. The first web issue followed six months later on the [[Bundesdatenautobahn]], the web's first [[content delivery network]]. Original content produced by its own editorial team is complemented by content purchased from news agencies. In addition, selected articles from the print edition are available online at no cost. The rest of the print publication is available in [[portable document format|PDF]] format for a fee. ''Spiegel Online'' has been on a tight budget since 2000. Its editors are not compensated as well as their print counterparts; instead they receive special ''Spiegel Online'' rates. In 2002 archived articles were declared premium content; they were no longer freely available and must be purchased. On 21 October 2004, an official English version called "Spiegel International" was introduced.


Revision as of 19:59, 10 May 2011

Der Spiegel
Editor-in-ChiefGeorg Mascolo
CategoriesNewsmagazine
FrequencyWeekly (on Mondays)
Circulation1,050,000 / week
PublisherSPIEGEL-Verlag
First issue4 January 1947
CountryGermany
LanguageGerman
WebsiteSpiegel.de (English version)
ISSN0038-7452

Der Spiegel (German pronunciation: [deːɐ ˈʃpiːɡəl], lit. "The Mirror") is a German weekly news magazine[1], published in Hamburg. It is one of Europe's largest publications of its kind, with a weekly circulation of more than one million.[2][3]

Overview

The first edition of Der Spiegel was published in Hanover on 4 January 1947, a Saturday. Its release was initiated and sponsored by the British occupational administration and preceded by a magazine titled, Diese Woche (This Week), which had first been published in November 1946. After disagreements with the British, the magazine was handed over to Rudolf Augstein as chief editor, and was renamed Der Spiegel. From the first edition in January 1947, Augstein held the position of editor-in-chief, which he retained until his death on 7 November 2002.

After 1950, the magazine was owned by Augstein and John Jahr; Jahr's share merged with Richard Gruner in 1965 to form the publishing company Gruner + Jahr. In 1969, Augstein bought out Gruner + Jahr for DM 42 million and became the sole owner of Der Spiegel. In 1971 Gruner + Jahr bought back a 25% share in the magazine. In 1974, Augstein restructured the company to make the employees shareholders. All employees with more than three years seniority are offered the opportunity to become an associate and participate in the management of the company, as well as in the profits.

Since 1952, Der Spiegel has been headquartered in its own building in the old town part of Hamburg.

Der Spiegel is similar in style and layout to American news magazines such as Time or Newsweek. In terms of the breadth and amount of detail in its articles it is comparable to the Atlantic Monthly. It is known in Germany for its distinctive, academic writing style and its large volume—a standard issue may run 200 pages or more. Typically, it has a content to advertising ratio of 2:1.

As of 2010, Der Spiegel was employing the equivalent of 80 full-time fact checkers, which the Columbia Journalism Review called "most likely the world’s largest fact checking operation".[4]

Development

Spiegel headquarters, Hamburg

Der Spiegel's circulation rose quickly. From 15,000 copies in 1947, it grew to 65,000 in 1948 and 437,000 in 1961. By the 1970s it had reached a plateau at about 900,000 copies. When the German re-unification in 1990 made it available to a new readership in former East Germany, the circulation exceeded one million. The magazine's influence is based on two pillars; firstly the moral authority established by investigative journalism since the early years and proven alive by several impressive scoops during the 1980s; secondly the economic power of the prolific Spiegel publishing house. Since 1988, it has produced the TV programme Spiegel TV, and further diversified during the 1990s. Among other things, Spiegel Verlag now publishes the monthly Manager Magazin.

In 1993, the publishing company Hubert Burda Media presented the weekly magazine FOCUS as an alternative to the Spiegel. It established a different style, defined by more succinct articles in combination with a layout of a more spectacular kind and succeeded in reaching roughly the Spiegel's circulation.

Stance and issues

When Stefan Aust took over in 1994, the magazine's readers realised that his personality was different from his predecessor. In 2005 a documentary by Stephan Lamby quoted him as follows: ""We stand at a very big cannon!"[5] Politicians of all stripes who had to deal with the magazine's attention often voiced their disaffection for it. The outspoken conservative Franz Josef Strauß contended that Der Spiegel was "the Gestapo of our time". He referred to journalists in general as "rats".[6]) The Social Democrat Willy Brandt called it "Scheißblatt" (i.e. a "shitsheet") during his term in office as Chancellor.

Der Spiegel often produces feature-length articles on problems affecting Germany (like demographic trends, the federal system's gridlock or the issues of its education system) and describes optional strategies and their risks in depth.[7][8][9][10][11]

Online

Spiegel Online (abbreviated SPON) was introduced in 1994. Initially, it was available only to Compuserve users. The first web issue followed six months later on the Bundesdatenautobahn, the web's first content delivery network. Original content produced by its own editorial team is complemented by content purchased from news agencies. In addition, selected articles from the print edition are available online at no cost. The rest of the print publication is available in PDF format for a fee. Spiegel Online has been on a tight budget since 2000. Its editors are not compensated as well as their print counterparts; instead they receive special Spiegel Online rates. In 2002 archived articles were declared premium content; they were no longer freely available and must be purchased. On 21 October 2004, an official English version called "Spiegel International" was introduced.

In February 2008, Spiegel opened its digital archive and made it searchable in their so-called "Spiegel Wissen" (Spiegel knowledge) website; results are interspersed with content from Wikipedia and other sources.

Spiegel Online is the most popular online resource for news in Germany, and won the Grimme Online Award in 2005.[citation needed]

Investigative journalism

Der Spiegel has a distinctive reputation for revealing political misconduct and scandals. It merited first accordant recognition as early as 1950, when the federal parliament launched an inquiry into the Spiegel's accusations that bribed members of parliament had promoted Bonn (rather than Frankfurt) as site of West Germany's government.

During the Spiegel scandal in 1962, which followed the release of a reportage about the possibly low state of applicability of the German armed forces, minister of defence and conservative figurehead Franz Josef Strauß had the Der Spiegel investigated. In the course of this investigation the editorial offices were raided by police while Rudolf Augstein and other Der Spiegel editors got arrested on charges of treason. Despite a lack of sufficient authority Strauß even took care of the article's author, Conrad Ahlers, who was consequently arrested in Spain where he had been on holidays. When the legal case collapsed, the scandal led to a major shake-up in chancellor Konrad Adenauer's cabinet and Strauß had to stand down. The affair was generally received as an attack on the freedom of press. Since then, Der Spiegel has repeatedly played a significant role in revealing political grievances and misdeeds, including the Flick Affair.

In 2010, the magazine supported WikiLeaks in publishing leaked materials from the United States State Department, along with the The Guardian, The New York Times, El País, Le Monde and Dazzlepod.[12]


Editors-in-chief

See also

References

  1. ^ "DER SPIEGEL is Germany's oldest news magazine, founded in 1946 as an obvious imitation of America's TIME and NEWSWEEK magazines". Retrieved 9 April 2011.
  2. ^ Kevin J. O'Brien (19 April 2004). "Scoop on Bundesbank head returns focus to Der Spiegel". International Herald Tribune. Archived from the original on 26 February 2008. Retrieved 2 January 2008.
  3. ^ "Average circulation: 1.1 million". Retrieved 9 April 2011.
  4. ^ Silverman, Craig (9 April 2010). "Inside the World's Largest Fact Checking Operation. A conversation with two staffers at Der Spiegel". Columbia Journalism Review.
  5. ^ ""We stand at a very big cannon!" Aust ranks his influence with the Spiegel - and openly acknowledges that he has enemies". Retrieved 9 April 2011.
  6. ^ "Strauss claimed that journalists were like vermin around shit (Ratten und Schmeißfliegen)". Retrieved 9 April 2011.
  7. ^ "the best investigative reporting, the widest foreign coverage, the sharpest political analysis, and the most insightful social commentary". Retrieved 9 April 2011.
  8. ^ "'Der Spiegel' report hits VW shares". Retrieved 9 April 2011.
  9. ^ "Holders of sovereign bonds, while taking a so-called haircut, would be guaranteed half the bond's face value as an incentive to take part in debt restructuring, Spiegel said". Retrieved 9 April 2011.
  10. ^ "Here's how Spiegel puts it: "Germany is witnessing a stunning political about-face". It said ..." Retrieved 9 April 2011.
  11. ^ "Der Spiegel has long been a German institution and is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand Germany or German politics". Retrieved 9 April 2011.
  12. ^ http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,731441,00.html
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