Martin U. Müller is a German journalist who covers investigative stories at the German news magazine Der Spiegel. He has been a member of the Hamburg-based editorial team since 2009. Müller studied medicine, neuropsychology, and the history of medicine before attending the Henri-Nannen-Schule. His investigative work has focused on high-profile cases including the affair surrounding Federal President Christian Wulff, the deliberate crash of Germanwings Flight 9525, the scandal involving the Bishop of Limburg Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst, and the dismissal of Bild editor-in-chief Julian Reichelt. He has received numerous awards for his journalism, among them the Henri Nannen Prize and the Otto-Brenner-Preis.
Life Müller studied medicine as well as neuropsychology and the history of medicine. He subsequently attended the Henri-Nannen-Schule. Since 2009 he has worked at the Hamburg-based news magazine Der Spiegel.
At Der Spiegel he covers business and media reporting, among other topics, and serves as a jury member for the "Journalist of the Year" award, presented by Medium Magazin. Martin U. Müller is also a lecturer at the Faculty of Law of the University of Freiburg.Lecturers – Faculty of Law, University of Freiburg. Retrieved 1 September 2025.
Müller regularly engages in investigative journalism. He has reported on the affair surrounding Federal President Christian Wulff and Berlin film financier David Groenewold,Martin U. Müller: Vorwurf der Vorteilsnahme: Wulff muss vor Gericht. In: Spiegel Online. 27 August 2013. on the Jörg Kachelmann legal case,Martin U. Müller, Barbara Schmid: Unappetitliche Details. In: Der Spiegel. No. 34, 2010 (online). on the scandal involving the Bishop of Limburg, Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst, and his first-class upgrades on flights to India,Martin U. Müller, Peter Wensierski: First Class in die Slums. In: Der Spiegel. No. 34, 2012 (online). on the background to the insolvency of airline Air Berlin,Air Berlin: Warum die Rettung der Fluglinie misslang. Spiegel Online, retrieved 24 October 2018. on the pilot suicide in Germanwings Flight 9525,Der Amokflug. In: Der Spiegel. 27 March 2015 (spiegel.de). on the methods of hospital group Asklepios,Asklepios-Kliniken: Der kranke Konzern. In: Spiegel Online. 21 December 2016. on the affair surrounding the then editor-in-chief of Bild newspaper, Julian Reichelt,Isabell Hülsen, Alexander Kühn, Juliane Löffler, Martin U. Müller, Anton Rainer, Katrin Langhans: »Bild«-Chef Julian Reichelt: Warum er gehen musste. In: Der Spiegel. 18 October 2021 (spiegel.de). and on sexual abuse involving ride-hailing service Uber.Martin U. Müller: Uber als Sicherheitsrisiko: Vergewaltigung auf dem Heimweg. In: Der Spiegel. 16 June 2024 (spiegel.de). He also regularly reports on grievances in the healthcare system as well as on weaknesses within major corporations, including Lufthansa.
Before joining Der Spiegel, Müller wrote for, among others, the Süddeutsche Zeitung, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and Der Tagesspiegel.
He is a jury member of the Spiegel Student Newspaper Prize and has awarded the "Spiegel Special Prize for the Best Journalistic Achievement" at the Federal Student Newspaper Competition of the Bundesrat.SPIEGEL-Schülerzeitungspreis 2015. In: Spiegel Online. 17 November 2014.Martin U. Müller: Spiegel-Sonderpreis 2017 „Beste journalistische Leistung". 14 June 2017.
Awards In 2022, Müller was awarded the Henri Nannen Prize (Stern Prize) in the category Story of the Year, together with colleagues, for an investigation into Julian Reichelt.SPIEGEL-Geschichten ausgezeichnet: Hanau-Protokolle und Recherche zu Julian Reichelt erhalten Journalistenpreis. In: Der Spiegel. 22 June 2022 (spiegel.de). In 2021, he received the German Journalism Prize (Deutscher Journalistenpreis) together with two Spiegel colleagues for an international investigation into the state of development of a COVID-19 vaccine.Deutscher Journalistenpreis (djp). Retrieved 6 October 2021. Müller was also honoured with the 1st Prize at the Media Prize for Aerospace and Aviation (Medienpreis Luft- und Raumfahrt) 2018.Medienpreis Luft- und Raumfahrt 2018. In: BDLI. In 2017, he won 1st place at the Otto-Brenner-Preis together with a team for the investigation Ein krankes Haus.1. Preis: Otto Brenner Preis 2017.Zitate / Ehrungen. In: Der Spiegel. No. 43, 2017 (online). Also in 2017, he was awarded the German Social Prize (Deutscher Sozialpreis).Preisträger Sparte Print – Deutscher Sozialpreis 2017. A report by Müller on the future of medicine in the age of digitalisation made the shortlist for the Ernst-Schneider-Preis 2018.Shortlist Ernst-Schneider-Preis 2018. In: Ernst-Schneider-Preis. 26 June 2018 (ernst-schneider-preis.de).
Together with Thomas Tuma, Müller received the 3rd Prize at the Helmut-Schmidt-Journalistenpreis 2011 for the Spiegel article Weltreligion Shoppen.Martin U. Müller: Helmut-Schmidt-Journalisten-Preis für Thomas Tuma und Martin U. Müller. 11 January 2015.Martin U. Müller, Thomas Tuma: Weltreligion Shoppen. In: Der Spiegel. No. 50, 2010 (online). He is a co-recipient, together with a team led by Thomas Tuma, of the Main Prize (Print) of the Friedrich-und-Isabel-Vogel-Preis für Wirtschaftsjournalismus for a four-part series titled Deutschland, deine Reichen.Ehrung. In: Der Spiegel. No. 45, 2012 (online).www.stifterservice.deIm Reich der Reichen. In: Der Spiegel. No. 9, 2012 (online).
Further nominations include the German Journalism Prize 2012 in the category Mobility and Logistics for a report on frequent flyers and the Lufthansa HON Circle,Martin U. Müller: Der Weg ist das Ziel. In: Der Spiegel. No. 2, 2012 (online). the German Journalism Prize 2013 in the category Innovation and Sustainability for a cover story on Big Data,Martin U. Müller, Marcel Rosenbach, Thomas Schulz: Die gesteuerte Zukunft. In: Der Spiegel. No. 20, 2013 (online). and the German Journalism Prize 2024 for a portrait of Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr.
Works Post-COVID-Syndrom und Long-COVID. Medizinisch Wissenschaftliche Verlagsgesellschaft, Berlin 2023, . Visionäre der Gesundheit. Medizinisch Wissenschaftliche Verlagsgesellschaft, Berlin 2023, . Was Ärzte von Journalisten lernen können. Medizinisch Wissenschaftliche Verlagsgesellschaft, Berlin 2020, . Wie ein Medienskandal entsteht. Springer Gabler, Wiesbaden 2020, . Endlich Zeit (contribution). Penguin Verlag, Munich 2018, . Deutschland, Deine Reichen: Wer sind sie – und warum so viele?. Spiegel Verlag, Hamburg 2013. Demenz: Was wir darüber wissen, wie wir damit leben. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Munich 2010, . Schwarz, Rot, Grau. Altern in Deutschland. Süddeutsche Zeitung, 1st edition, Munich 2008, .
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