Der Spiegel (pronounced /deːɐ ˈʃpiːɡəl/, German for "The Mirror") is a German weekly magazine, published in Hamburg. It is one of Europe's largest weekly magazines with a circulation of more than one million per week.

Overview

The first edition of the Spiegel magazine 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 been first 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 right up 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. However, in 1971 Gruner + Jahr bought back a 25% share in the magazine. In 1974, Augstein restructured the company to make the employees shareholders. Every employee who works at the magazine for more than three years is 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 given in its articles it is comparable to the Atlantic Monthly or the British Economist. 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. However, due to the tougher economic constraints for many print media, the magazine had been slashed to 140-170 pages per issue. More recently, the average Spiegel issue returned to a size of more than 200 pages (circa November 2006).

Affairs and scandals

Der Spiegel has a long track record of uncovering political misconduct and creating scandals, earning itself the moniker "Sturmgeschütz der Demokratie" (assault rifle of democracy) in its early decades. In fact, it became notorious for this role as early as 1950, when the federal parliament had to launch an inquiry into the Spiegel's accusations that bribed members of parliament had helped make Bonn (rather than Frankfurt) the seat of the West German government.

The incident that cemented the magazine's image as a sentinel of democracy, however, was the so-called Spiegel scandal in 1962. After an article had been printed that reported on the low state of readiness of the German armed forces, minister of defence and conservative figurehead Franz Josef Strauss initiated an investigation against the Spiegel, causing the editorial offices to be raided by the police and Rudolf Augstein as well as several other editors to be arrested on charges of treason. Although he had no authority to do so, Strauss even made sure that the article's author, Conrad Ahlers, was arrested in Spain where he was vacationing. The legal case collapsed soon, and the whole affair led to a major shake-up in the cabinet of chancellor Konrad Adenauer, including Strauss's resignation. The affair was widely viewed as an attack on the freedom of the press. Since then, Der Spiegel has played a significant part in uncovering various political grievances and misdeeds, including the Flick Affair.