BERLIN, May 12 (UPI) -- Germany's Federal Intelligence Service has spied on the professional and private lives of numerous journalists, according to a report.
A classified report delivered to a parliamentary commission overseeing the intelligence services, or BND, proves the agency also contacted journalists to inform them about their colleagues' work, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper said Friday.
A former journalist working for the news magazine Focus was paid nearly $400,000 for his services from 1982 until 1998.
The BND was especially interested in information about journalists working for the prestigious news magazine Der Spiegel, known for its investigative reporting.
As late as fall 2005, the report says, the BND was investigating a famous German journalist. Restaurants the BND thought served as a meeting place between journalists and sources were also surveyed.
The control commission was implemented after reports surfaced last year that the BND in the past had gathered intelligence on journalists.
Journalist associations have reacted with outrage and demanded a clarification from the BND and the declassification of the 170-page report. The BND claims the case was closed with the final report.
Focus, meanwhile, may take legal actions against the BND. The case could turn into yet another scandal for the service, already under scrutiny for secretly cooperating with the United States during the war in Iraq.
