COVER-UP

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

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) 

 "Mission Cover-up Accomplished!" (George W. Bush)

 "Cover-up? Yes, We Can!" (Barak Obama)

Cleaning and Cover-up days at the CIA