A cover-up is an attempt, whether successful or not, to conceal evidence of wrongdoing, error, incompetence, or other embarrassing information. Research has distinguished personal cover-ups (covering up one’s own misdeeds) from relational cover-ups (covering up someone else’s misdeeds)
The expression is usually applied to people in positions of authority who abuse power to avoid or silence criticism or to deflect guilt of wrongdoing.[1]
Overview
A cover-up is an attempt, successful or not, to conceal or prevent discovery of information or evidence about a crime, mistake, or unethical actions, often to safeguard reputation.[2][3][1] It differs from other unethical behavior as a reaction to earlier questionable behavior.[2][3]
There are different types of coverup organized by the scale and motive for the cover-up. Personal cover-ups are intended to hide an individual’s actions and relational cover-ups occur when someone attempts to conceal another person’s actions.[4] There are also institutional or organizational cover-ups where a group is involved,[5][6] and multiagency where multiple institutions take part in a cover-up.[7] Psychology professor Anthony Montgomery writes that there are “elements that are crucial for the development and maintenance of [organizational] cover-ups: (1) Unwilling, but compliant, participants who are unlikely to be whistleblowers, (2) Suppressing/withholding important information, (3) Proactively engaging the support of related actors/institutions that helps create a critical mass, (4) Owning the narrative, and (5) Moral disengagement.”[8]
Examples
- The Dreyfus Affair[9]
- Armenian genocide denial[10]
- Katyn massacre[11]
- The Iran–Contra affair[12]
- The Luzhniki disaster[13]
- The Chernobyl disaster[14]
- The My Lai massacre[15]
- The Roman Catholic sex abuse cases of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.[16]
- The Watergate scandal[17]
- Russian doping scandals[18]
- Stormy Daniels–Donald Trump scandal[19]
See also
Notes
- ^ a b Bennet 2026, p. 18.
- ^ a b Montgomery 2022, p. 1.
- ^ a b Kundro 2021, p. 873-875.
- ^ Kundro 2021, p. 873.
- ^ Katz 1979, p. 295-296.
- ^ Montgomery 2022, p. 1-2.
- ^ Montgomery 2022, p. 2.
- ^ Montgomery 2022, p. 2-7.
- ^ “DREYFUS CASE (“L’Affaire Dreyfus”)”. JewishEncyclopedia.com. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
- ^ 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. S2CID 71289389.
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.
- ^ Sterio, Milena (2011). “Katyn Forest Massacre: Of Genocide, State Lies, and Secrecy”. Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law. 44: 615.
- ^ Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters (Walsh Report) March 2010.
- ^ Katell, Andrew (10 July 1989). “’82 Moscow Soccer Tragedy Is Exposed”. Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. Retrieved 18 February 2012.
- ^ Schmemann, Serge (29 April 1986). “Soviet Announces Nuclear Accident at Electric Plant”. The New York Times. p. A1. Archived from the original on 27 April 2014. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
- ^ Doug Linder. “The Peers Report on the My Lai Massacre”. Law.umkc.edu. Archived from the original on 15 November 2008. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
- ^ “Boston Globe / Spotlight / Abuse in the Catholic Church / Scandal and coverup”. The Boston Globe. 31 January 2002. Archived from the original on 15 October 2002. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
- ^ “TRANSCRIPT OF A RECORDING OF A MEETING BETWEEN THE PRESIDENT AND H.R. HALDEMAN IN THE OVAL OFFICE ON JUNE 23, 1972 FROM 10:04 TO 11:39 AM – Watergate Special Prosecution Force” (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 May 2010. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
- ^ Ostlere, Lawrence (9 December 2016). “McLaren report: more than 1,000 Russian athletes involved in doping conspiracy”. The Guardian. London.
- ^ Katersky, Aaron. “Timeline: Manhattan DA’s Stormy Daniels hush money case against Donald Trump”. ABC News. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
References
- Kundro, Timothy G.; Nurmohamed, Samir (June 2021). “Understanding When and Why Cover-Ups Are Punished Less Severely”. Academy of Management Journal. 64 (3): 873–900. doi:10.5465/amj.2018.1396.
- Katz, Jack (October 1979). “Concerted Ignorance: The Social Construction of Cover-Up”. Urban Life. 8 (3): 295–316. doi:10.1177/089124167900800303.
- Bennett, Simon (2 January 2026). “Deviance normalised? An analysis of British cover-ups informed by actor-network theory”. International Journal of Environmental Studies. 83 (1): 18–38. doi:10.1080/00207233.2025.2563486. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
- Montgomery, Anthony (16 June 2022). “Concerted Collusion: Studying Multiagency Institutional Cover-Up”. Frontiers in Psychology. 13: 1–9. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.847376. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
External links
The dictionary definition of cover-up at Wiktionary
Media related to Concealment at Wikimedia Commons
