Good question! And they not only get away with it, they manage to get the public not to notice it while they point a finger at everyone else they label "imperalist". Maybe that's part of the trick: distraction.
Regarding the use of European journalists as intelligence operatives, I know what you mean by cribbing. I saw an example of that when I had a conservative French friend ask me about the Cheney-Halliburton story, and I noticed what he was reading in Le Monde (think that's where he was reading it) seemed to be taken uncritically from the left-wing press here (and he tells me Le Monde is considered moderate there, which is scary. . .he also said the US Democrats have essentially the same policies as French Socialists, LOL). That type of interaction seems to go both ways--I've seen the US left do the same with cribbing stories from the European press, especially in the so-called "alternative" US media--and as you say, it's fairly obvious and not very clever. Beyond that more obvious level of interchange, I've noticed somewhat more subtle collaboration in disseminating propaganda between especially the US and UK press, for instance during the early stages of the Niger forgery/Joseph Wilson coverage. That was one thing I had in mind in my comment; and I was also thinking of French propaganda activity in the US and Canada. I remember about the time the Iraq War started, the French started a push to expand their cultural influence--especially online--in order to counter the "Anglosphere".
I don't think there's any 'maybe' about it.