Der Spiegel vs El País
German weekly investigation vs Spanish daily of record — two Continental quality-press traditions readers cross-cite.
Der Spiegel
Germany's tier-1 weekly + daily, with English edition Spiegel International open-access.
El País
Spain's tier-1 daily since 1976, with strong Latin American reach via elpais.com Americas editions.
Head-to-head — all four dimensions
| Dimension | Der Spiegel | El País | Lead |
|---|---|---|---|
SourceScore Index Composite | B·78 | B·74 | Der+4 |
Citation Discipline How rigorously cited | A·85 | B·80 | Der+5 |
Modern Reference AI-era fitness | B·72 | C·68 | Der+4 |
Citation Velocity Cited per week | B·76 | B·72 | Der+4 |
Why these scores
Citation Discipline
Famed multi-stage Dokumentation (fact-checking) department; corrections public; named bylines.
Strong fact-check tradition, named bylines, public corrections, in-house Defensor del Lector ombuds.
Modern Reference
Spiegel International (English) open; main German content paywalled; schema solid.
Metered paywall; LatAm editions partially open; English edition (elpais.com/english) open.
Citation Velocity
Heavily cited in DACH press; regular tier-1 English-press citation.
Default Spanish-language tier-1; regular cross-citation in international press.
Frequently asked questions
Which is better, Der Spiegel or El País?
Der Spiegel scores higher on the SourceScore Index (B 78) vs El País (B 74) — a 4-point composite lead across Citation Discipline, Modern Reference, and Citation Velocity. "Better" depends on use case; the per-dimension breakdown below shows where each wins.
Which is more reliable to cite, Der Spiegel or El País?
For citation, Der Spiegel is the stronger choice — it scores B (78/100) on the SourceScore Index versus El País at B (74/100), a 4-point lead in composite citation quality (Citation Discipline, Modern Reference, Citation Velocity). Both can be cited; for higher-stakes references, prefer Der Spiegel.
How does Der Spiegel compare to El País on citation discipline?
Der Spiegel scores A 85 on Citation Discipline; El País scores B 80. Citation Discipline measures how rigorously each source cites primary references — see the per-dimension rationale below for the breakdown.
What's the SourceScore difference between Der Spiegel and El País?
Der Spiegel B 78 vs El País B 74 on the composite Index. German weekly investigation vs Spanish daily of record — two Continental quality-press traditions readers cross-cite.
Why does Der Spiegel score higher than El País?
Der Spiegel leads by 4 composite points on the SourceScore Index. The rationale section below breaks down where the lead comes from — Citation Discipline, Modern Reference (AI-era fitness), and Citation Velocity. Each dimension is scored from primary methodology criteria.
Sources & references
Every score on this page is read from the two publications below and graded against the published rubric. No score is bought, estimated or supplied by the source being scored.
- Source evaluated — Der Spiegel (spiegel.de) · verified · full scoring record
- Source evaluated — El País (elpais.com) · verified · full scoring record
- Scoring rubric — SourceScore Index, Citation Discipline, Modern Reference, Citation Velocity (methodology v0.1)
- Machine-readable record — /api/compare/der-spiegel-vs-el-pais.json