It was political revelations that enabled “Der Spiegel” to become the defining medium of the German press scene. Has the news magazine, however, still managed to retain its importance 70 years after it was first published?
The German flagship of news journalism, Der Spiegel, is a child of the occupation period after the Second World War, when Germany was controlled by the Allied forces. The first editorial office was run by young men wearing German army uniforms that had been dyed – due to the shortage of fabrics and civilian clothes. They were led by John Chaloner, a British press officer, and journalist, Harry Bohrer, who had returned to Germany from exile. It was their common aim to set up a magazine amidst the ruins of wartorn Germany based on the model of the American Time magazine. Everybody on the staff was absolutely resolute about the rejection of the Nazi dictatorship and the blind faith in the authorities that had prevailed under the regime. As an advocate of a radical social new beginning, Diese Woche, as the publication was initially called in 1946, did not shy away, either, from criticising the Allied forces of occupation. They, in turn, promptly disposed of this opposition in their own ranks by simply putting Diese Woche into German hands. On January 4th, 1947, the first edition of the magazine, renamed Der Spiegel, came out with Rudolf Augstein as its publisher and editor-in-chief.
The upholding of the ideal of a defensive democracy is the most important legacy of Der Spiegel, which otherwise did not pursue any firm political agenda. Augstein once called the magazine “im Zweifel links” (If in doubt, go for left), but the criticism which the left-wing political camp repeatedly expressed about Der Spiegel showed how disappointed the left was with the magazine's “neutral” attitude towards the 1968 student revolt in Germany. However, this reproach was based on a fundamental misunderstanding – Augstein saw his publication as a guardian of democracy and not as a propagandist for social developments. On the other hand, the criticism of the language and the narrative style of the magazine struck at the very heart of Der Spiegel's self-image – as early as in 1957, Hans Magnus Enzensberger, complained that the stories tailored to the magazine's political readers were only a mere substitute for true clarification and problem-solving.