The expression is usually applied to people in positions of authority who abuse their power to avoid or silence criticism or to deflect guilt of wrongdoing. Those who initiate a cover-up (or their allies) may be responsible for a misdeed, a breach of trust or duty, or a crime.
While the terms are often
used interchangeably, cover-up involves withholding incriminatory evidence,
while whitewash involves releasing misleading evidence.
Modern usage
When a scandal breaks, the
discovery of an attempt to cover up is often regarded as even more
reprehensible than the original deeds.
The mildest case, not quite
a cover-up, is simply to release news which could be embarrassing but is not
important enough to guarantee attention, at a time when other news is
dominating the headlines, or immediately before a holiday or weekend.
Initially a cover-up may
require little effort; it will be carried out by those closely involved with
the misdeed. Once some hint of the hidden matter starts to become known, the
cover-up gradually draws all the top leadership, at least, of an organization
into complicity in covering up a misdeed or even crime that may have originally
been committed by a few of its members acting independently. This may be
regarded as tacit approval of that behaviour.
It is likely that some
cover-ups are successful, although by definition this cannot be confirmed. Many
fail, however, as more and more people are drawn in and the possibility of
exposure makes potential accomplices fearful of supporting the cover-up and as
loose ends that may never normally have been noticed start to stand out. As it
spreads, the cover-up itself creates yet more suspicious circumstances.
The original misdeed being
covered may be relatively minor, such as the "third-rate burglary"
which started the Watergate scandal, but the cover-up adds so many additional
crimes (obstruction of justice, perjury, payoffs and bribes, in some cases
suspicious suicides or outright murder) that the cover-up becomes much more
serious than the original crime.
Cover-ups do not necessarily
require the active manipulation of facts or circumstances. Arguably the most
common form of cover-up is one of non-action. It is the conscious failure to
release incriminating information by a third party. This "passive
cover-up" is often justified by the motive of not wanting to embarrass the
culprit or expose them to criminal prosecution or even the belief that the
cover-up is justified by protecting the greater community from scandal. Yet,
because of the passive cover-up, the misdeed often goes undiscovered and
results in harm to others ensuing from its failure to be discovered. (In
Catholic moral theology this would be considered the sin of omission and a
mortal sin.)
Real cover-ups are common
enough, but any event which is not completely clear is likely to give rise to a
thicket of conspiracy theories alleging covering up of sometimes the weirdest
and most unlikely conspiracies.
"Snowjob" is an
American and Canadian colloquialism for a deception or a cover-up; for example,
Helen Gahagan Douglas described the Nixon Administration as "the greatest
snow job in history".
Reasons
People, governments, or
institutions may try to cover up if they are dishonest enough to wish to hide
things that they should not conceal (hiding information is not in itself a
cover-up); and they believe that they
can successfully cover up the facts, either by effective concealment or using
their authority and power to prevent investigation and publication;
and they believe that public
knowledge of the facts will harm them in some way, from long jail sentences
through possible loss of electoral office to mere embarrassment; and they
believe that the benefit of a successful cover-up outweighs the risk and harm
to them of being caught covering up.
Sometimes an apparently
simple and low-risk cover-up grows out of control. For example, an employee may
take money covertly from his employer to finance something, in the expectation
that (s)he will shortly return it with nobody being the wiser; but the money
taken is lost, the employee cannot make good, and must dangerously extend the
cover-up. Compulsive gamblers, who irrationally think that they will bet the
embezzled money, win, return the stake, and keep their winnings are an example.
They will typically steal more, still intending to repay it with winnings,
until eventually the shortfall can be concealed no longer. The case of
derivatives trader Nick Leeson is similar.
Typology of cover-ups
The following list is
considered to be a typology since those who engage in cover-ups tend to use
many of the same methods of hiding the truth and defending themselves. This
list was compiled from famous cover-ups such as Watergate Scandal, Iran-Contra Affair,
My Lai Massacre, Pentagon Papers, the cover-up of corruption in New York City
under Boss Tweed (William M. Tweed and Tammany Hall) in the late 1800s, and the
tobacco industry coverup of the health hazards of smoking. The methods in
actual cover-ups tend to follow the general order of the list below.
Initial response to
allegation
Flat denial
Convince the media to bury the story
Preemptively distribute false information
Claim that the "problem" is
minimal
Claim faulty memory
Claim the accusations are half-truths
Claim the critic has no proof
Attack the critic's motive
Attack the critic's character
Withhold or tamper with
evidence
Prevent the discovery of evidence
Destroy or alter the evidence
Make discovery of evidence difficult
Create misleading names of individuals and
companies to hide funding
Lie or commit perjury
Block or delay investigations
Issue restraining orders
Claim executive privilege
Delayed response to allegation
Deny a restricted definition of wrongdoing
(e.g. torture)
Limited hang out (i.e., confess to minor
charges)
Use biased evidence as a defense
Claim that the critic's evidence is biased
Select a biased blue ribbon commission or
"independent" inquiry
Intimidate participants,
witnesses or whistleblowers
Bribe or buy out the critic
Generally intimidate the critic by
following him or her, killing pets, etc.
Blackmail: hire private investigators and
threaten to reveal past wrongdoing ("dirt")
Death threats of the critic or his or her
family
Threaten the critic with loss of job or
future employment in industry
Transfer the critic to an inferior job or
location
Intimidate
the critic with lawsuits or SLAPP suits
Murder; assassination
Publicity management
Bribe the press
Secretly plant stories in the press
Retaliate against hostile media
Threaten the press with loss of access
Attack the motives of the press
Place defensive advertisements
Buy out the news source
Damage control
Claim no knowledge of wrongdoing
Scapegoats: blame an underling for
unauthorized action
Fire the person(s) in charge
Win court cases
Hire the best lawyers
Hire scientists and expert witnesses who
will support your story
Delay with legal maneuvers
Influence or control the judges
Reward cover-up participants
Hush money
Little or no punishment
Pardon or commute sentences
Promote employees as a reward for cover-up
Reemploy the employee after dust clears
Examples
The John F. Kennedy assassination
The Marilyn
Monroe’s murder orchestrated by Bobby Kennedy on August 4, 1962
The Iran–Contra affair
The My Lai Massacre
The Roman Catholic sex abuse cases of the
late 20th and early 21st centuries
The Watergate scandal
The Tsunami Massacre, December 26, 2004 (J.Ch.)
Alleged cover-ups
Alleged cover-ups
Conspiracies to cover up the
facts of a number of prominent events have been alleged in the following cases:
The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, January
28, 1986
M/S Estonia disaster
September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks
Attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in
Benghazi
See also
Blue Code of Silence
Gatekeepers
Media
manipulation
Omertà
Propaganda
Spin (public relations)
Whitewash (censorship)
(From Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cover-up)
Bilder:
1. Potus und Flotus
Bilder:
1. Potus und Flotus
Die Begriffe Potus und Flotus hören sich, wenn man sie das erste Mal hört, eher spaßig an. Den Sinn dahinter zu finden, ist nicht allzu einfach, wenn man Potus und Flotus noch nie gehört hat. Nun, um diejenigen, die es nicht wissen, nicht länger zappeln zu lassen, es handelt sich dabei um eine Abkürzung aus den Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika. Genauer gesagt, um die zwei wichtigsten Personen dieses Landes. Denn Potus ist die Abkürzung für „President Of The United States“ und Flotus ist die offizielle amerikanische Abkürzung für „First Lady Of The United States“. http://mehrwisser.de/potus-und-flotus/
2. "Mission Cover-up Accomplished!"
(George W. Bush)
3. "Cover-up? Yes, We
Can!" (Barak Obama)
4. Cleaning and Cover-up days at the CIA
4. Cleaning and Cover-up days at the CIA
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