CIAO DATE: 04/05

Watching the Watchdogs: The Role of the Media in Intelligence Oversight in Germany

Abstract

Free media and unhampered and impartial journalism are crucial elements of any democracy. Journalists provide the information which a society needs to debate current policies, public issues, societal threats, the potential failings of its institutions as well as necessary reforms. In so doing, journalism fulfils a major democratic function, which includes, as a crucial responsibility, the duty to make issues transparent and therefore to help citizens to gain information about and exert oversight of the state′s executive bodies (Ward 2004).

But even if those pre-conditions are satisfied, some societal areas, especially those which concern security related issues, tend to resist efforts to provide transparency and public oversight. This is especially the case when intelligence services and intelligence related issues are involved.

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