Remember the Schulz-train "phenomenon" suddenly emerging last year? I stumbled upon it the first on spon and I am convinced they basically just invented it. And I am saying that as somebody voting for SPD.
Ideally just news, or news in context but no unbalanced editorials, opinion pieces or political or social agenda. It is the last one I am struggling with finding.
Also no cheap drama, preferably being positive in general.
No popular science, too.
Not shallow.
Also, the list above lacks the FAZ (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) as a source for high-quality journalism (politically, I would describe the FAZ as open-minded conservative.)
It's the first time I've actually seen them included in any list of reputable media.
Spiegel, ZEIT, sueddeutsche, Tagesschau, and FAZ are the large, reputable, online publishers. If you want to watch, tagesthemen is I believe among the best-produced daily news in both German and English language.
Spiegel (the magazine) is distinct from Spiegel Online, and is only available for paying customers. Do read through one–I'm sure there's a free trial or a pdf you can find somewhere. It's mostly medium-length and some long-form, deeply reported stories, current events none-withstanding.
All of these are essentially mainstream, politically, with FAZ tending centre-right, tagesschau going to great length to appear neutral, and the rest being centre-left, somewhere right of The Guardian, left of The Economist.
FAZ und NZZ are mostly neutral, slightly conservative (but not in the US sense). I'd recommend them.
A broadcast service for promoting the language and culture to an international audience. A bit like "Voice of America". DW is financed by public funds that was allocated on the state level (ARD).
The have offerings such as a "slowly spoken news with transcript" podcast, in German language.