[forapurpose]

Could some of the situation be due to differences between German and American conceptions and assumptions about journalism? I mean on a nuanced level; obviously German journalists don't think they should publish falsehoods. Purely as examples of differences that could have an impact: Maybe fact-checking is more the responsibility of the journalist; maybe 'news' is perceived more the way American journalism perceives opinion pieces, with their accompanying lower standards of accuracy (something I still don't understand - outright deception is commonly accepted in opinion pieces, in the most serious publications). It would be a mistake to assume all journalism is conceived of and operates in the same way, in all countries.

Also, Der Spiegel has long had an extraordinary reputation; my impression is that, of publications outside English-speaking countries, Der Spiegel has the best reputation among Americans. I'm not sure that many do their own evaluation, though Der Speigel looks like what we expect serious journalism to look like. Taking a longer view than just this immediate problem, do they deserve the reputation? If not, I'd be interested in who others recommend (outside English-speaking countries).

[ar0]

To be honest, I was quite surprised because I heard that Der Spiegel has an „extraordinary reputation“ in the U.S. for the first time today on HN.

I am German and even when I went to school (before the „life-sucking Internet“ from a comment below) there was the saying that all you could trust in Der Spiegel are the dates and numbers (although this article suggests even that might be too much).

IMHO, there are much better German-language news sources out there (Die Zeit, Frankfurter Allgemeine, Süddeutsche, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Brand Eins, to name just a few with differing political leanings).

[sverhagen]

I think in the Netherlands we generally look at Der Spiegel also as a respectable publication. The Dutch Wikipedia entry on it calls Der Spiegel a "moral authority", among other things.

[Tomte]

The reputation is about fact-checking, i.e. dates and numbers.

[zorked]

Not American, in my country Der Spiegel is assumed to be the media of record in Germany, just like the NYT in the US.

[veddox]

Honesty is considered one of the highest of virtues in Germany. You can be blunt to the point of rudeness and people will still praise you for being "plainspoken". And talking about plagiarism: at least two federal ministers have had to resign in the last 10 years after it came out that they plagiarised parts of their PhD theses. Though obviously not all Germans are honest, honesty does has a very high standing in our culture. There is no excuse whatsoever for this kind of deliberate forgery, especially by a member of a profession whose job it is to "tell the truth".