Reporting Europe: Propaganda, Espionage or Real Journalism?

European Union leaders have never had a good relationship with journalists. They have always been irritated by reporters who ask searching questions, demand access to secret documents or express scepticism over the policies and programmes flowing from the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers.

Six years ago they were so frustrated by one journalist who was on their tails over internal corruption -- Hans Martin Tillack of Stern magazine in Germany -- that they laid bogus charges of bribery against him and got the Belgian police to raid his offices and home. The European Court in Strasbourg condemned them for it and last month he was finally cleared of all charges, without one hint of an apology from Brussels.

Now according to a German newspaper insiders in the Commission have smeared the entire community of investigative journalists by suggesting some of them are engaged in espionage.

While it's a painful reality that the European Union is not in step with the citizens of its member states, and this may may be hard to bear for the bureaucrats, it's a pity to take it out on the journalists who are reporting European Union affairs.

It's bad enough that media employers are cutting down on decent journalistic work to save money without having those who are trying to do a decent job smeared as potential spies by public officials. Investigative journalism may resemble spying -- its about asking tough questions and getting documents that others might like to keep secret -- but it's an essential component of democratic society.

As usual the European Union gives the impression that it wants only tame journalists, ready to be spoon-fed propaganda by their political masters. What they don't understand is that their lack of real respect for journalism not only further damages the European project in the public mind, it also undermines democratic values.

That's one reason why the Commission's approach to media should be one of the issues to be put on the agendsa of the new team that is going to be appointed later this year.