Karl Henry von Wiegand (September 11, 1874[2] – June 7, 1961) was a German born American journalist and war correspondent.

During the First World War, Von Wiegand gained prominence for reporting from Germany and conducting exclusive interviews with members of German political and social elite.

In August 1914, at the onset of World War I, the New York newspaper The Sun reported that Von Wiegand was the only American correspondent permitted to remain in Berlin.

Von Wiegand experienced the hardships of his father's struggles to maintain their farm, which ultimately led to the loss of two family properties.

By the age of fourteen, Von Wiegand witnessed his father's ongoing financial struggles, prompting him to leave home without telling his parents and siblings of his plans.

[16][17] In March 1903, while working as a reporter for the San Francisco Examiner, Von Wiegand was assaulted by Albert W. Rhodes while attempting to conduct an interview for a newspaper story about the Flora Eberling poisoning case.

The prosecution, conducted on behalf of the San Francisco Examiner, resulted in Albert W. Rhodes being fined twenty US dollars on March 12, 1903.

[19] On November 14, 1908, while working as an Associated Press reporter, Von Wiegand witnessed the attempted murder of Assistant District Attorney Francis J. Heney during a brief recess of the Ruef trial.

[26][27] As a representative of the United Press in Berlin, Von Wiegand used his network of German connections to get permission to travel and report from the Eastern Front.

[29] In his report, Von Wiegand described the terrifying force of concentrated machine-gun power on closely packed Russian troops.

Von Wiegand was pleasantly surprised to learn that the article had passed through British censorship unedited, approved for publication in the United States but not in Britain.

[35][36] The interview was regarded as “the greatest beat of the European war printed in America thus far.”[37] It generated significant public interest due to the candid opinions expressed by crown prince Wilhelm.

[42] From the outbreak of the First World War Von Wiegand worked to influence American public opinion in favour of Germany and against the Allies.

"[45] In early 1915, Von Wiegand received an offer to leave United Press and join the staff of Pulitzer’s newspapers as a special correspondent in Germany, reporting for The New York World and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

[47] Meanwhile, The New York World, Pulitzer’s flagship newspaper, had decided to hire Von Wiegand, offering him $200 per week to report from Berlin.

Subsequently, United Press dropped the lawsuit, as it was pursuing legal action against a newspaper that had already secured the employment of the journalist at the center of the controversy.

[48] On April 11, 1915, The New York World published an interview conducted by correspondent Von Wiegand with pope Benedict XV.

This interview was a significant publicity event for the newspaper, being noted by The Editor and Publisher as “the second audience of the kind granted by a Pope in the modern history of the church.”[49] In July 1916, Von Wiegand, alongside nine other correspondents, filed a protest against British censorship concerning American journalists' reporting from Germany during World War I.

According to Ralph Pulitzer, Von Wiegand chose to disregard instructions from the newspaper to remain in Berlin and not return to the U.S. Cyril Brown subsequently succeeded him as the German correspondent for the publication.

[52][53] Von Wiegand was one of the first American journalists to interview Hitler, having first met him in 1921 while he was only a minor malcontent in post-World War I Munich.

"[55][56] A month after Germany invaded France in World War II, Wiegand secured an interview with Hitler and published his report "Europe for the Europeans: Adolf Hitler on the international situation during the war in France; An interview granted to Karl v. Wiegand, Führer's Headquarters, June 11, 1940".