Acover-up is an attempt, whether successful or not, toconceal evidence of wrongdoing, error, incompetence, or otherembarrassing information. Research has distinguished personal cover-ups (covering up one's own misdeeds) from relational cover-ups (covering up someone else's misdeeds).[1]
The expression is usually applied to people in positions ofauthority whoabuse power to avoid or silencecriticism or to deflectguilt of wrongdoing. Perpetrators of a cover-up (initiators or their allies) may be responsible for a misdeed, abreach of trust or duty, or a crime.
While the terms are often used loosely,cover-up involves withholding incriminatory evidence, whilewhitewash involves releasing misleadinglyexculpatory evidence, and aframeup involves falsely blaming an innocent person.Misprision is the failure ofmandated reporters to disclose crimes they are aware of (e.g., a military officer failing to proactively report evidence oftreason, or a hospital failing to reportchild abuse).
A cover-up involving multiple parties is a type ofconspiracy.
The Ottoman government attempted to ban foreigners from taking photographs such as this one ofArmenian genocide victims in an effort to cover up the genocide.[4]
When ascandal breaks, the discovery of an attempt to cover up the truth is often regarded as even more reprehensible than the original deeds.[citation needed]
Initially, a cover-up may require a lot of effort, but it will be carried out by those closely involved with the misdeed.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed] This may be regarded as tacit approval of that behaviour.[citation needed]
It is likely that some cover-ups are successful, although by definition this cannot be confirmed. Many[citation needed] 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 theWatergate scandal, but the cover-up adds so many additional crimes (obstruction of justice,perjury, payoffs andbribes, in some cases suspicious suicides or outrightmurder) that the cover-up becomes much more serious than the original crime.[citation needed] This gave rise to the phrase, "it's not the crime, it's the cover-up".[5]
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 may be 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.[citation needed]
Real cover-ups are common enough, but any event that is not completely clear is likely to give rise to a thicket ofconspiracy theories alleging covering up of sometimes the weirdest and most unlikely conspiracies.
The following list is considered to be a typology[6] 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 theWatergate Scandal, theIran-Contra Affair,My Lai massacre, thePentagon Papers, the cover-up of corruption in New York City under Boss Tweed (William M. Tweed andTammany Hall) in the late 19th century,[7] and the tobacco industry cover-up of the health hazards of smoking.[8] The methods in actual cover-ups tend to follow the general order of the list below.
Depending on the nature of cover-up activities, they may constitute a crime in certain jurisdictions.
Perjury (actively telling lies to the court, as opposed to refusing to answer questions) is considered a crime in virtually all legal systems. Likewise,obstruction of justice, that is, any activity that aims to cover-up another crime, is itself a crime in many legal systems.
The United States has the crime ofmaking false statements to a federal agent in the context of any matter within the federal jurisdiction, which includes "knowingly and willfully" making a statement that "covers up by any trick, scheme, or device a material fact".[11]
^The systematic classification of the types of something according to their common characteristics.SeeWiktionary.
^Ackerman, K. D. (2005). Boss Tweed: The rise and fall of the corrupt pol who conceived the soul of modern New York. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers.ISBN0-7867-1435-2.
^Dadrian, Vahakn N. (2003). "The signal facts surrounding the Armenian genocide and the Turkish denial syndrome".Journal of Genocide Research.5 (2):269–279.doi:10.1080/14623520305671.S2CID71289389.First, there are the organized attempts to cover up the record of past atrocities. The nearest successful example in the modern era is the 80 years of official denial by successive Turkish governments of the 1915–17 genocide against the Armenians in which some 1.5 million people lost their lives. This denial has been sustained by deliberate propaganda, lying and coverups, forging documents, suppression of archives, and bribing scholars.
^Mark Lane (1966). Rush to Judgment: A Critique of the Warren Commission's Inquiry Into the Murders of President John F. Kennedy, Officer J. D. Tippit and Lee Harvey Oswald. Holt Rinehart & Winston
^Henry Hurt (January 1986). Reasonable Doubt: An Investigation into the Assassination of John F. Kennedy. Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
^Michael L. Kurtz (November 2006). The JFK Assassination Debates: Lone Gunman versus Conspiracy. University of Kansas Press
^Rabe, J(2002) Die Estonia: Tragödie eines Schiffsuntergangs, Publisher: Delius Klasing
^Goldberg, Robert Alan (2001). Enemies Within: The Culture of Conspiracy in Modern America. Yale University Press.ISBN0-300-09000-5.
^Rowell, Andrew (2003). Don't worry, it's safe to eat: the true story of GM food, BSE, & Foot and Mouth. Earthscan.ISBN1-85383-932-9.
The dictionary definition ofcover-up at Wiktionary
Media related toConcealment at Wikimedia Commons