1. No, there are a lot of sources, that report the same. SPON (Spiegel Online) turned from being a good source for news into click-bait (~beginning 2014). The editorial staff changed: Didn't the editor in chief come from Germany's most famous yellow press gazette (die Bild) [1]?

2. You have a basically American audience on HN. I underpinned "kind of left" with the "basic income discussion", which -with no doubt- the Spiegel has a (very) positive stance for it (just search Google, the German terminology is "(bedingungsloses) Grundeinkommen").

3. No, it's not my opinion v.s. your's (that would be deficient)

[1] It's the co-editor ... and his appointment "was received with great controversy within der Spiegel": http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolaus_Blome

He is also the one responsible for "the online-resort", so the articles on their web site.