Der Spiegel is one of the five most read German-language news websites. Before the renaming in January 2020, the website's name was Spiegel Online. It was founded in 1994 as the online offshoot of the German news magazine, Der Spiegel, with a staff of journalists working independently of the magazine. Today, it is the most frequently quoted online media product in Germany. Spiegel Online International, a section featuring articles translated into English, was launched in autumn 2004. In 2019, its editorial office was merged with the one of the printed Spiegel and in 2020, the website was renamed accordingly.
Company and editorial staff
The news websiteDer Spiegel is run by Der Spiegel GmbH & Co. KG, itself a wholly owned subsidiary of Spiegel-Verlag. The editorial offices of the news website and the print magazine Der Spiegel are separate operations, that had their own offices, authors, and content until January 2020. Now, content for both media is created by a shared editorial team. The news portalDer Spiegel has a record of profitability. Regular staff includes 150 people in the Hamburg headquarters, complemented by freelancers, and domestic and international news bureaus. In the German capital, Berlin, 15 correspondents cover the German federal government, political parties, corporations and artists. The Munich and Düsseldorf offices have one correspondent each. There are journalists based in Washington, D.C., New York, London, Moscow, New Delhi and Istanbul. The online news staff also receives support from Der Spiegel magazine's network of correspondents in Germany and abroad. The site also uses content from news agencies such as AFP, AP, dpa and Reuters. Wolfgang Büchner was editor in chief of Spiegel and Spiegel Online from September 2013 to December 2014. Büchner's former deputies, Florian Harms and Barbara Hans, headed Spiegel Online after Büchner left the company. On 13 January 2015, Harms was appointed sole editor in chief. After Florian Harms had to leave the company on 6 December 2016 Barbara Hans was promoted to editor in chief.
The news website first went up on 25 October 1994 under the name Spiegel Online, making it the first online presence of an established news magazine, one day before the Time site. SPON started as a service on CompuServe. The web domain spiegel.de was established one year later. SPON's content initially consisted of hand-picked articles from the print magazine. As early as 1995, however, original contentfirst appeared in a section called "Scanner," which was only available online. In the following year, Spiegel Online was relaunched and commenced featuring breaking news as well.
Rebranding in 2020
In 2019, its editorial office was merged with the one of the printed Spiegel. In January 2020, the website was rebranded, now using the same media brand as the printed format.
Popularity
In 2017, "Spiegel Online" was among the ten most cited sources in the German Wikipedia. Currently it is included in the top 30most visited websites in Germany. Today, Der Spiegel is among the five widest reaching news website in Germany.
