We scored 98 German and English news sources — wires, public broadcasters, quality press, tabloids, TV, briefings, apps and platforms — on the value they deliver to someone who wants a neutral picture of the world, not on how loud they are. This is the general-news counterpart to the crypto study: the loudest sources are not the most reliable, and half of what you read is an echo of five wire wholesalers.
The six findings that matter
Reach barely predicts value
Across 98 sources the correlation between reach and value is r = 0.04 — statistically zero. Among the highest-reach sources, high and low ratings sit side by side, and the same holds at the small end. At the tabloid end, reach is a warning sign.
Half the news world is echo
Cardiff and Pew put 50–80% of hard news as wholly or partly wire copy — the Swiss fög finds one in four; in the 2008 Cardiff sample only ~12% was fully original reporting. The originals are five wholesalers — Reuters, AP, AFP, dpa, Bloomberg. Most portals are SEO-wrapped agency feed.
For Germany, dpa is the backbone
Roughly 87% of agency copy in Germany runs through dpa. Reading Tagesschau is, to a large extent, reading editorially polished dpa / Reuters / AFP.
US bias charts don’t fit German media
AllSides and Ad Fontes anchor their zero on Washington, not Berlin. The lean column draws on AllSides / MBFC where they rate a source, re-anchored editorially to the German / Anglo centre and cross-checked against NewsGuard credibility scores and Reuters Institute trust data.
Public ≠ automatically neutral
Tagesschau, ZDF and BBC score the highest trust (Reuters Institute 2025). High trust is not evidence of neutrality, though — the honest read is more neutral, not neutral.
A minimal diet: ~4 sources
A wire primary (Reuters / AP) + one neutral briefing + one quality outlet + a bias-checker covers a genuinely neutral world-view in under a minute a day. Everything past that is redundancy or entertainment.
A genuinely neutral news diet is ~4 sources and under a minute a day — Moonkelp is that diet, automated: the source layer, both sides, the day in 60 seconds.
How to read the map
Each source is placed by political lean (horizontal — left ← centre → right) and average value (vertical — from reliability, quality, incentive cleanliness, time efficiency and fit; currency and reach are shown but not part of Ø). Bubble size is reach. All 98 sources are in the picture; green and labelled are the core sources, everything else stays an outline. Direction-neutral platforms and tools sit in the band on the right.
The vertical scatter of the big bubbles is the finding: how loud a source is says almost nothing about how high it sits. Quality clusters near the centre; the loud extremes sink to the bottom.
Method & limits
98 DE / EN sources scored 1–5 on six value dimensions plus reach, with first-party Semrush organic-traffic figures for hard reach. Lean is anchored to the German / Anglo-American centre, not a US scale — the appropriate references for a German reader are NewsGuard, the Reuters Institute / Leibniz-HBI and Correctiv.
Reach is organic web only; App, TV, newsletter and social reach are under-counted. The Ø value averages reliability, quality, clean incentives, time efficiency and fit; currency and reach are collected but deliberately kept out of it. We do not publish the scores — the order of the table is the ranking, and we claim nothing more about any single source. Scores are reasoned editorial judgment, not an objective index.
The universe: the highest-reach German and English news sources per category plus the outlets practitioners cite most — 98 in all, a curated field, not a census. Anchors: 5 = consistently strong on the documented record, 1 = consistently weak. Verdicts follow the composite Ø, with an editorial override where the record outweighs the average. One evaluator — deep research plus editorial review. Data as of Jul 23, 2026.
The highlights and lean ratings are editorial opinion based on the documented public record; a highlight speaks to fit for a neutral daily news diet, not to the quality of a publisher. A source that is not highlighted here is not being marked down. Perspectives, not investment advice. This study is reviewed quarterly; corrections normally ship within days. Corrections: contact@moonkelp.com.
The map · 98 sources · lean × value
All 98 sources are in the picture. Green and labelled are the core sources; hover one for category and lean.
The table
All 98 sources — what they are and what they are good for
The same list as on the map, only readable instead of drawn. Pick a category, a lean, or both. The order is the ranking of our assessment; a score appears nowhere on purpose, because a number next to someone else’s masthead reads as a measurement, and a measurement is not the same thing as a judgement.
98 sources
| Source | Category | Lean | Lang | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reuters | Wire services | Center | Both | Core source |
| BBC News | Public broadcasters | Center | EN | Core source |
| Tagesschau / ARD | Public broadcasters | Center | DE | Core source |
| Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) | German quality press | Center-right | DE | Core source |
| Feedly/RSS (als Methode) | Aggregators / tools | n/a | Both | Core source |
| Associated Press (AP) | Wire services | Center | Both | Core source |
| The Economist Espresso | Briefings & newsletters | Center | EN | Core source |
| ZDF heute | Public broadcasters | Center | DE | Supplemental |
| Financial Times | Anglo quality press | Center | EN | Core source |
| dpa (Deutsche Presse-Agentur) | Wire services | Center | DE | Supplemental |
| Ground News | Anti-clickbait apps | n/a | EN | Core source |
| Der Spiegel | German quality press | Center-left | Both | Supplemental |
| RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland (RND) – rnd.de | German spectrum / edge | Center-left | DE | Supplemental |
| The Guardian | Anglo quality press | Center-left | EN | Core source |
| Agence France-Presse (AFP) | Wire services | Center | Both | Supplemental |
| Deutsche Welle (DW) | Public broadcasters | Center | Both | Supplemental |
| Reuters Investigates | Non-profit / investigative | Center | EN | Supplemental |
| The New York Times | Anglo quality press | Center-left | EN | Core source |
| Der Standard (AT) | German quality press | Center-left | DE | Supplemental |
| Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) | German quality press | Center-right | DE | Supplemental |
| Deutschlandfunk | Public broadcasters | Center | DE | Supplemental |
| Semafor | Briefings & newsletters | Center | EN | Core source |
| Improve the News / Verity (Improve The News Foundation, Max Tegmark) | Anti-clickbait apps | n/a | EN | Supplemental |
| Große Regionalzeitungen (DE) | German regional | Center | DE | Supplemental |
| ntv (n-tv, n-tv.de + TV) | TV / cable | Center | DE | Supplemental |
| Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) | German quality press | Center-left | DE | Supplemental |
| The Wall Street Journal | Anglo quality press | Center-right | EN | Supplemental |
| WirtschaftsWoche | German quality press | Center-right | DE | Supplemental |
| Bloomberg | Wire services | Center-left | Both | Supplemental |
| Axios | Briefings & newsletters | Center | EN | Supplemental |
| Die Zeit | German quality press | Center | DE | |
| USA Today (usatoday.com) | Anglo mass-reach | Center-left | EN | Supplemental |
| France 24 | Public broadcasters | Center | Both | Supplemental |
| Particle | Anti-clickbait apps | n/a | EN | Supplemental |
| ProPublica | Non-profit / investigative | Center-left | EN | Supplemental |
| NYT "The Morning" | Briefings & newsletters | Center-left | EN | |
| 1440 Daily Digest | Briefings & newsletters | Center | EN | Supplemental |
| NPR | Public broadcasters | Center-left | EN | Supplemental |
| The Telegraph (telegraph.co.uk) | Anglo mass-reach | Center-right | EN | Supplemental |
| The Economist | Anglo quality press | Center | EN | Supplemental |
| Cicero – cicero.de (Magazin für politische Kultur) | German spectrum / edge | Center-right | DE | Supplemental |
| Boring Report | Anti-clickbait apps | n/a | EN | |
| Google News | Aggregators / tools | n/a | Both | Supplemental |
| t-online (t-online.de) | German tabloid / portal | Center-left | DE | Supplemental |
| Berliner Zeitung – berliner-zeitung.de | German spectrum / edge | Center-left | DE | Supplemental |
| stern (stern.de) | German tabloid / portal | Center-left | DE | Supplemental |
| The Independent (independent.co.uk) | Anglo mass-reach | Center-left | EN | Supplemental |
| der Freitag | German edge press | Center-left | DE | Supplemental |
| Der Tagesspiegel | German quality press | Center | DE | |
| Handelsblatt | German quality press | Center-right | DE | |
| Correctiv | Non-profit / investigative | Center-left | Both | Supplemental |
| WhatsApp Kanäle | Social platforms | n/a | Both | Supplemental |
| CNBC (CNBC.com + Cable) | TV / cable | Center | EN | Supplemental |
| Politico Playbook | Briefings & newsletters | Center | EN | |
| Tagesspiegel Checkpoint | Briefings & newsletters | Center | DE | Supplemental |
| nd (neues deutschland) | German edge press | Left | DE | Supplemental |
| PBS NewsHour | Public broadcasters | Center-left | EN | |
| Table.Media (Table.Briefings) | Briefings & newsletters | Center | DE | |
| Bellingcat | Non-profit / investigative | Center | EN | |
| Mastodon | Social platforms | n/a | Both | |
| Welt | German quality press | Center-right | DE | Supplemental |
| YouTube | Social platforms | n/a | Both | Supplemental |
| Apple News | Aggregators / tools | n/a | EN | |
| Business Insider (businessinsider.com) | Anglo mass-reach | Center-left | EN | Supplemental |
| LinkedIn News | Social platforms | n/a | Both | Supplemental |
| Rheinische Post / RP Online | German regional | Center-right | DE | |
| WAZ / Funke | German regional | Center | DE | |
| Bluesky | Social platforms | n/a | EN | Supplemental |
| WELT TV (welt.de + TV) | TV / cable | Center-right | DE | Supplemental |
| Morning Brew | Briefings & newsletters | Center | EN | |
| Al Jazeera English (state-funded, Qatar) | Public broadcasters | Center-left | EN | Supplemental |
| Frankfurter Rundschau | German quality press | Center-left | DE | |
| taz (die tageszeitung) | German quality press | Left | DE | |
| The Atlantic | Anglo quality press | Center-left | EN | |
| CNN (CNN.com + Cable) | TV / cable | Center-left | EN | Supplemental |
| The Washington Post | Anglo quality press | Center-left | EN | |
| junge Welt | German edge press | Left | DE | Supplemental |
| Focus Online (focus.de) | German tabloid / portal | Center-right | DE | |
| Ippen Digital / Merkur.de | German spectrum / edge | Center | DE | |
| web.de & GMX News (United Internet) | German tabloid / portal | Center | DE | |
| HuffPost (huffpost.com) | Anglo mass-reach | Left | EN | |
| Junge Freiheit | German edge press | Right | DE | Supplemental |
| Threads | Social platforms | n/a | Both | |
| Vice | German edge press | Center-left | DE | |
| Bild (bild.de) | German tabloid / portal | Center-right | DE | Supplemental |
| Social platforms | n/a | Both | ||
| Reddit r/worldnews | Aggregators / tools | n/a | EN | |
| Tichys Einblick – tichyseinblick.de | German spectrum / edge | Right | DE | |
| Artifact (eingestellt Jan 2024, Datenpunkt) | Anti-clickbait apps | n/a | EN | |
| Daily Mail / MailOnline (dailymail.co.uk) | Anglo mass-reach | Right | EN | |
| Social platforms | n/a | Both | ||
| Snapchat Discover | Social platforms | n/a | EN | |
| Telegram | Social platforms | n/a | Both | |
| MS NOW (ehem. MSNBC, msnbc.com + Cable) | TV / cable | Left | EN | |
| Fox News (FoxNews.com + Cable) | TV / cable | Right | EN | |
| X/Twitter (als News-Quelle) | Aggregators / tools | n/a | Both | |
| TikTok | Social platforms | n/a | Both | |
| Nius – nius.de | German spectrum / edge | Right | DE |
No source in this combination.
The order is our ranking; we do not show scores. What gets a badge is what carries a neutral daily news diet — as a core source or as a supplement. An empty badge is not a negative verdict: it means we do not single this source out, and nothing more. Lean is anchored to the German / Anglo-American centre, not a US scale.
Every score above is our own assessment; the primary sources behind the study are listed at the foot of this page.
Sources & references
What this study is built on
98 German + English news sources, reviewed in July 2026 using independent reliability and bias ratings, media-concentration research, and our own Semrush organic-traffic figures for 69 domains.
Reliability & bias ratings
Media-concentration studies
Traffic & reach data
News wholesalers referenced
Sources were cited by name and date in the research; the exact fetched pages aren’t stored, so each link points to the provider’s own site rather than the specific page. Traffic figures are our own Semrush pulls — primarily the US database, so they compare sources rather than count absolute audiences.