BERLIN: A long-awaited parliamentary report published here on Friday found that Germany’s foreign intelligence service (BND) had engaged in “totally illegal” activities by spying on journalists.

The BND had “used” journalists to discover the media’s “information, informants and editorial context,” said the 179-page report compiled by a former federal court judge, Gerhard Schaefer.

It was partially released by the Bundestag, the lower house of parliament, after leaked extracts indicating that the BND even paid reporters to spy on their own colleagues caused an outcry earlier this month.

The intelligence agency was apparently motivated by a desire to discover the source of leaks to the press about its activities.

The Bundestag posted the report on the Internet, but it has omitted certain passages and at the request of journalists who were spied upon, published only their initials.

Reacting to the report in a seven-page statement, the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel said disciplinary steps would be taken against the main culprits in the affair.

It said it would appoint a special investigator to handle the matter and believed both former and current members of the BND could face sanctions.

The government ruled out legal steps, however. Schaeffer took the same line in his report.

Since the scandal broke, the government has repeatedly said that the intelligence services would not be allowed to behave in such a way again.

Der Spiegel weekly news magazine, which has a reputation for rooting out corruption and exposing errant politicians, and its rival magazine Stern appear to have been the focus of much of the reported spying.

The publishers of both magazines as well as the news weekly Focus said they would take legal action against the BND.

The intelligence agency’s image suffered a blow earlier this year when it was reported that it had helped the United States during the war on Iraq.

The government admitted that it kept two agents in Baghdad after the US-led invasion and engaged on a “regular” exchange of information with the “American side” but denied it had helped the war effort.

The media spy scandal has struck a particular chord in a country highly sensitive to any abuses of power by the security services or violations of press freedom.

The way the Nazi regime manipulated the press is still fresh in people’s memories.—AFP