Scandal

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Playbill for the fourth performance of Sheridan's comedy The School For Scandal (1777) Playbill For Sheridan's The School For Scandal.jpg
Playbill for the fourth performance of Sheridan's comedy The School For Scandal (1777)

A scandal can be broadly defined as the strong social reactions of outrage, anger, or surprise, when accusations or rumours circulate or appear for some reason, regarding a person or persons who are perceived to have transgressed in some way a social norm. These reactions are usually noisy and may be conflicting, and they often have negative effects on the status and credibility of the person(s) or organization(s) involved.

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Society is scandalized when it becomes aware of breaches of moral norms or legal requirements, often when these have remained undiscovered or been concealed for some time. Such breaches have typically erupted from greed, lust, or the abuse of power. Scandals may be regarded as political, sexual, moral, literary, or artistic, but often spread from one realm into another. The basis of a scandal may be factual or false, or a combination of both. [1] In contemporary times, exposure of a scandalous situation is often made by mass media.

Contemporary media has the capacity to spread knowledge of a scandal further than in previous centuries and public interest has encouraged many cases of confected scandals relating to well-known people as well as genuine scandals relating to politics and business. Some scandals are revealed by whistleblowers who discover wrongdoing within organizations or groups, such as Deep Throat (William Mark Felt) during the Watergate scandal in the 1970s in the United States. Whistleblowers may be protected by laws which are used to obtain information of misdeeds and acts detrimental to their establishments. [2] However, the possibility of scandal has always created a tension between society's efforts to reveal wrongdoing and its desire to cover them up, and the act of covering up (or indeed of revealing) a contentious situation may become a scandal.

Academic and literary

Academic dishonesty, also referred to as academic misconduct, is any type of cheating that occurs in relation to a formal academic exercise.

Although in the early part of the 19th century held the view that scandal does not mix with literature and science, some opined that a scattering of some amount of scandal in literature could enhance interest of people as scandal suits "the taste of almost every palate." [3] Scandal, has however, been the subject of many books. Among the most famous of fictional stories about scandal are School for Scandal (1777) by Richard Brinsley Sheridan and The Scarlet Letter (1850) by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Literary scandals result from some kind of fraud; either the authors are not who they say they are, or the facts have been misrepresented or they contain some defamation of another person. For example, two books by Holocaust survivors, Angel at the Fence by Herman Rosenblat and A Memoir of the Holocaust Years by Misha Defonseca, were found to be based on false information, [4] while a prize won by novelist Helen Darville created a scandal in 1994 around the author's fraudulently claimed ancestry.

Political

In the spring of 1904, many parts of the northeastern United States experienced severe flooding. Bob Satterfield portrayed politicians, bureaucrats, etc., trapped in the floods, which are not of water, but of various scandal (9 April 1904) . Satterfield cartoon about floods of political scandals.jpg
In the spring of 1904, many parts of the northeastern United States experienced severe flooding. Bob Satterfield portrayed politicians, bureaucrats, etc., trapped in the floods, which are not of water, but of various scandal (9 April 1904) .

A political scandal occurs when political corruption or other misbehavior is exposed. Politicians or government officials are accused of engaging in illegal, corrupt, or unethical practices. A political scandal can involve the breaking of the nation's laws or moral codes and may involve other types of scandal. [5]

Business

In 2012, Michael Woodford who successfully steered Olympus, a Japanese company to fame, turned a whistleblower when even as a CEO of the firm, he exposed the financial scandal worth $1.7 billion and fled Japan fearing for his life. Though persecuted his revelations proved to be true resulting in booking the culprits. Portraying a damaging status of corporate Japan, Woodford, in his memoirs has said: "I thought I was going to run a health-care and consumer electronics company, but found I had walked into a John Grisham novel." [6]

Media

Since the development of printing, the media has had greater power to expose scandals and since the advent of mass media, this power has increased. The media also has the capacity to support and/or oppose organizations and destabilize them thereby becoming involved in scandals themselves as well as reporting them. [7]

Following the Watergate scandal in the United States, other English-speaking countries have borrowed the suffix "gate" and added it to scandals of their own. [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]

Journalism

Journalistic scandals relate to high-profile incidents or acts, whether done purposefully or by accident. It could be in violation of normally in vogue ethics and standards of journalism. It could also be in violation of the 'ideal' mission of journalism: to publish "news events and issues accurately and fairly." [13]

Television

The American quiz show of the 1950s generated "hypnotic intensity" among viewers and contestants. The CBS Television show The $64,000 Question which started on 7 June 1955 and such other shows as The Big Surprise, Dotto,Tic Tac Dough, and Twenty One became the most publicized quiz shows, but soon generated scandals after a series of revelations that contestants of several popular television quiz shows conspired with the show's producers to rig the outcome. The quiz show scandals were driven by a drive for financial gain, a willingness of contestants to "play along" with the assistance, and the lack of regulation prohibiting the rigging of game shows. In October 1958, a New York grand jury was instituted by prosecutor Joseph Stone and the matter was examined with recording of closed-door testimony. Following this, the US Congress ruled rigging a quiz show a federal crime. [14]

The TV soap opera titled "Scandal" a popular show on the American Television ABC channel has been dubbed a "self-absorbed, overblown, overacted, pretentious, soliloquy-laden car-wreck-of-a-series." [15]

Sex scandals

A sex scandal is a scandal involving allegations or information about possibly-immoral sexual activities being made public. Sex scandals are often associated with sexual affairs of film stars, politicians, famous athletes and others in the public eye, and become scandals largely because of the prominence of the person involved, perceptions of hypocrisy on their part, or the non-normative or non-consensual nature of their sexual activity. [16] A sex scandal may be based on reality, the product of false allegations, or a mixture of both.

Sports

A desire for success and financial gain or the abuse of power in sport have also created many scandals both at an individual and the organisational level. Scandals arising from corruption have an impact of the credibility of sport. The World Anti-Doping Agency, as part of its role to "promote, coordinate and monitor the fight against drugs in sports", has showed that bribery, doping by athletes and doping sample-tampering, have occurred in collusion with national and international sporting organizations. Some[ who? ] consider that doping is "now endemic"[ when? ] in the world of sport and is becoming extremely pervasive, including more and more sports. [17]

One of the biggest individual scandals flowed from revelations that former American road cycling champion Lance Armstrong had achieved success by consistent, long-term cheating. One of the biggest institutional sporting scandals is the 2015 FIFA corruption case. Doping scandals have plagued the Olympic games as well, such as in the Doping in East Germany scandal and the Asian Games in 1994. Scandals in match games such as Major League baseball and cricket may relate to spot-fixing or gambling. [18]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Watergate scandal</span> Political scandal in the United States

The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's attempts to cover up its involvement in the June 17, 1972, break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, D.C., at the Watergate Office Building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Political corruption</span> Use of power by government officials for illegitimate private gain

Political corruption is the use of powers by government officials or their network contacts for illegitimate private gain.

Transparency International e.V. (TI) is a German registered association founded in 1993 by former employees of the World Bank. Based in Berlin, its nonprofit and non-governmental purpose is to take action to combat global corruption with civil societal anti-corruption measures and to prevent criminal activities arising from corruption. Its most notable publications include the Global Corruption Barometer and the Corruption Perceptions Index. Transparency International serves as an umbrella organization. From 1993 to today, its membership has grown from a few individuals to more than 100 national chapters, which engage in fighting perceived corruption in their home countries. TI is a member of G20 Think Tanks, UNESCO Consultative Status, United Nations Global Compact, Sustainable Development Solutions Network and shares the goals of peace, justice, strong institutions and partnerships of the United Nations Sustainable Development Group (UNSDG). TI is a social partner of Global Alliance in Management Education. TI confirmed the dis-accreditation of the national chapter of United States of America in 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cover-up</span> Attempt to conceal evidence

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 from relational cover-ups.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Teapot Dome scandal</span> 1921–1923 U.S. Cabinet bribery scandal

The Teapot Dome scandal was a bribery scandal involving the administration of United States President Warren G. Harding from 1921 to 1923. Secretary of the Interior Albert Bacon Fall had leased Navy petroleum reserves at Teapot Dome in Wyoming, as well as two locations in California, to private oil companies at low rates without competitive bidding. The leases were the subject of a seminal investigation by Senator Thomas J. Walsh. Convicted of accepting bribes from the oil companies, Fall became the first presidential cabinet member to go to prison; no one was convicted of paying the bribes.

Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, racial injustice, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years researching and preparing a report. Practitioners sometimes use the terms "watchdog reporting" or "accountability reporting".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sensationalism</span> Type of editorial tactic used in mass media

In journalism and mass media, sensationalism is a type of editorial tactic. Events and topics in news stories are selected and worded to excite the greatest number of readers and viewers. This style of news reporting encourages biased or emotionally loaded impressions of events rather than neutrality, and may cause a manipulation to the truth of a story. Sensationalism may rely on reports about generally insignificant matters and portray them as a major influence on society, or biased presentations of newsworthy topics, in a trivial, or tabloid manner, contrary to general assumptions of professional journalistic standards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bofors scandal</span> 1980s–90s Indian–Swedish corruption scandal related to defence equipment sales

The Bofors scandal was a major weapons-contract political scandal that occurred between India and Sweden during the 1980s and 1990s, initiated by Indian National Congress politicians and implicating the Indian prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi, and several other members of the Indian and Swedish governments who were accused of receiving kickbacks from Bofors AB, an arms manufacturer principally financed by the Wallenberg family's Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken, for winning a bid to supply to India their 155 mm field howitzer. The scandal relates to illegal kickbacks paid in a US$1.4-billion deal between the Swedish arms manufacturer Bofors with the government of India for the sale of 410 field howitzer guns, and a supply contract almost twice that amount. It was the biggest arms deal ever in Sweden, and money marked for development projects was diverted to secure this contract at any cost. The investigations revealed flouting of rules and bypassing of institutions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Propaganda model</span> Conceptual model in political economy

The propaganda model is a conceptual model in political economy advanced by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky to explain how propaganda and systemic biases function in corporate mass media. The model seeks to explain how populations are manipulated and how consent for economic, social, and political policies, both foreign and domestic, is "manufactured" in the public mind due to this propaganda. The theory posits that the way in which corporate media is structured creates an inherent conflict of interest and therefore acts as propaganda for anti-democratic elements.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Dean</span> American author, Watergate figure

John Wesley Dean III is an American attorney who served as White House Counsel for U.S. President Richard Nixon from July 1970 until April 1973. Dean is known for his role in the cover-up of the Watergate scandal and his subsequent testimony to Congress as a witness. His guilty plea to a single felony in exchange for becoming a key witness for the prosecution ultimately resulted in a reduced sentence, which he served at Fort Holabird outside Baltimore, Maryland. After his plea, he was disbarred.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martha Mitchell</span> Political socialite and Watergate whistleblower (1918–1976)

Martha Elizabeth Beall Mitchell was the wife of John N. Mitchell, United States Attorney General under President Richard Nixon. Her public comments and interviews during the Watergate scandal were frank and revealing.

Watchdog journalism is a form of investigative journalism where journalists, authors or publishers of a news publication fact-check and interview political and public figures to increase accountability in democratic governance systems.

<i>Scandal: How "Gotcha" Politics Is Destroying America</i>

Scandal: How 'Gotcha' Politics Is Destroying America is a 2006 book by Lanny Davis, a lawyer who was special counsel to Bill Clinton, an appointee under George W. Bush, and advisor to Hillary Clinton during her then-upcoming 2008 campaign. The theme of the book is "that both [major political] parties [in the United States] have to learn to have civil debate, the[n] solve people's problem[s]," by working together in a bipartisan fashion. Moreover, Davis predicts that centrist 'purple' politicians could build a winning bipartisan coalition in that manner, in particular by winning over 'angry' independent voters fed up with scandal-mongering and incivility.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corruption in India</span> Institutional corruption in the country

Corruption in India is an issue which affects economy of central, state, and local government agencies. Corruption is blamed for stunting the economy of India. A study conducted by Transparency International in 2005 recorded that more than 62% of Indians had at some point or another paid a bribe to a public official to get a job done. In 2008, another report showed that about 50% of Indians had first hand experience of paying bribes or using contacts to get services performed by public offices. In Transparency International's 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index, which scored 180 countries on a scale from 0 to 100, India scored 40. When ranked by score, India ranked 85th among the 180 countries in the Index, where the country ranked first is perceived to have the most honest public sector. For comparison, the best score was 90, the worst score was 12, and the average score was 43. Various factors contribute to corruption, including officials siphoning money from government social welfare schemes. Examples include the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and the National Rural Health Mission. Other areas of corruption include India's trucking industry, which is forced to pay billions of rupees in bribes annually to numerous regulatory and police stops on interstate highways.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corruption in China</span> Institutional corruption in the country

Corruption in China post-1949 refers to the abuse of political power for private ends typically by members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), who hold the majority of power in the country. Corruption is a very significant problem in China, impacting all aspects of administration, law enforcement, healthcare and education. Since the Chinese economic reforms began, corruption has been attributed to "organizational involution" caused by the market liberalization reforms initiated by Deng Xiaoping. Like other socialist economies that have undertaken economic reforms, such as post-Soviet Eastern Europe and Central Asia, reform-era China has experienced increasing levels of corruption.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corruption in the United States</span> Institutional corruption in the United States of America

Corruption in the United States is the act of government officials abusing their political powers for private gain, typically through bribery or other methods, in the United States government. Corruption in the United States has been a perennial political issue, peaking in the Jacksonian era and the Gilded Age before declining with the reforms of the Progressive Era.

Michael Christopher Woodford, MBE is an English businessman who was formerly president and COO and CEO of Japan-based optics and reprography products manufacturer Olympus Corporation.

Lamar Waldron is an American writer and historian who often writes about conspiracies and cover-ups.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corruption in South Korea</span> Institutional corruption in the country

Corruption in South Korea is moderate compared to most countries in the Asia-Pacific and the broader international community. Transparency International's 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index scored South Korea at 63 on a scale between 0 and 100. When ranked by score, South Korea ranked 31st among the 180 countries in the Index, where the country ranked first is perceived to have the most honest public sector. For comparison, the best score was 90, and the worst score was 12.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Authorised Neutral Athletes at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics</span> Sporting event delegation

The Authorised Neutral Athletes are Russian athletes who are permitted to compete in the 2017 World Championships in Athletics by special permission, despite the IAAF's suspension of the Russian Athletic Federation. In order to compete, Russian athletes must demonstrate that they were not involved in the doping scandal that precipitated Russia's suspension from international athletics.

References

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  2. Moeller 2008, p. 194.
  3. Ponceau 1834, p. 5.
  4. "Fool Oprah Once..." Time. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
  5. Park, Hyun (December 2009). "Scandals in French History as Portrayed in Historic Encyclopedias". Zum.De. Archived from the original on 24 August 2014.
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  7. Ehrat 2011, p. 1.
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  13. Reviews 2013, p. 63.
  14. "Quiz Show Scandals". museum.tv. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  15. Star, Michael (19 October 2015). "'Scandal' is the dumbest show on TV". New York Times. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  16. Juliet A. Williams (21 May 2011). "Why the Strauss-Kahn and Schwarzenegger scandals don't go together". The Washington Post.
  17. Fitzgerald, Maurice (13 November 2015). "After the doping scandals, has international sport got any credibility left?". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
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Bibliography

Further reading