german media in english

my favorite news source about german events in english, independent major german media:

spiegel (engl.: mirror)

spiegel magazine is one of germany's most important political publications. it's website is usually fast in updating breaking news. plus it features an english site reporting about german and international matters from a german perspective but in english language.

it is a good place to go to learn about what is currently debated in germany and also offers reports and comments on the u.s. election campaign from time to time from a german perspective.

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tagesschau (engl.: view of the day)

the tagesschau is one of the two major public-legal german newscasts. is it broadcasted by the ard broadcasting consortium. ard stands for arbeitsgemeinschaft der oeffentlich-rechtlicher rundfunkanstalten der bundesrepublik deutschland which means in english: consortium of public-legal broadcasting institutions of the federal republic of germany.

however, it is legally independent of any german government. germans pay a monthly fee to a special broadcasting commission. if they own a television to fund the many ard media outlets. it's signature newscast tagesschau is seen as one of the most reliable news sources on german television.

the tagesschau english website features news about the world and current affairs.


official german media but useful websites:

deutsche welle (engl.: german wave)

deutsche welle is comparable to the voice of america in the sense that it is germany's official mouthpiece. germans pay for it through taxes. it was founded in 1953 to convey "german and other positions on important issues, chiefly from politics, the arts and economics".

deutsche welle director-general erik bettermann wraps it up: "deutsche welle is germany's media calling card for the world."

the deutsche welle website is nicely organized and offers news on world, european, and german issues.

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bundesregierung.de (engl.: federal government)

this is the official website of the german federal government. it gives updates in english about politics and events, e.g. obama in berlin, germany and iraq.

together with the deutsche welle this might give you an idea what federal german politicians are up to and how they view what is happening in germany but also how germany relates to issues and countries worldwide.


other websites with good service for german news:

signandsight.com

i just recently bumped into this website and it seems to be an interesting service: translating worthy articles by non-english writers into english. it is not only focused on germany but includes news about it and is provided by a german company. the editors write in the about section:

"signandsight.com gathers voices from across Europe on a variety of topics, aiming to foster trans-European debates and the creation of a European public space.

signandsight.com is the English language service of perlentaucher.de, the largest cultural online magazine in German language. 2003 perlentaucher.de has won the Grimme Award, Germany's most prestigious media prize."

especially their weekly feature "from the feuilletons" gives a neat summary of what was dicussed in the cultural sections of german newspapers. it is published every friday around 3pm.

plus the website offers a key to german newspapers with short english descriptions what the publication is about.

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thelocal.de

this seems to be a very nice website, well organized in the style of an online newspaper featuring a great range of reports on german issues of all areas. it also provides news about europe, little polls, and a most read section. however, be aware, the spelling is in british english.

by the way, it is owned by a swedish company according to their own information but is based in berlin.


websites with some news on germany:

german times

this website is part of a website called world news network founded in 1995, gone online in 1998. it offers a wide range of topics on germany mixed with general international news.

the german times is a little overwhelming at first with lots of colors and different sections but offers some regional news for german cities, too. i have to admit not to be too familiar with it but it seems to be another source that might prove useful.

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expatica.com

expatica's website offers a limited selection of headlines about german events since it also provides news about europe. however, the website is well arranged and easy to navigate. expatica is a company based in the netherlands and targets german emigrants.