Editing Scandal

{{Short description|Action regarded as morally or legally wrong and causing public outrage}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2015}}
[[File:A Society Scandal (1924) - 4.jpg|thumb|Advertisement for ''[[A Society Scandal]]'', a 1924 film in which a woman is "compromised by an unconventional visit paid to her room"]]

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 persons or organizations involved.

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.{{Sfn|Davis|2014|p=84}} In contemporary times, exposure of a scandalous situation is often made by [[mass media]]. 
  		  	
[[History of 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 [[whistleblower]]s who discover wrongdoing within organizations or groups, such as [[Deep Throat (Watergate)|Deep Throat]] ([[W. Mark Felt|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.{{Sfn|Moeller|2008|p=194}} 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==
{{further|Academic dishonesty}}

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."{{Sfn|Ponceau|1834|p=5}} 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 ''[[Misha: A Mémoire of the Holocaust Years|A Memoir of the Holocaust Years]]'' by Misha Defonseca, were found to be based on false information,<ref name=Time>{{cite magazine|url=https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1868982_1868981,00.html|title=Fool Oprah Once...|access-date=16 December 2015|magazine=Time}}</ref> while a prize won by novelist [[Helen Darville]] created a scandal in 1994 around the author's fraudulently claimed ancestry.

==Political==
[[File:Satterfield cartoon about floods of political scandals.jpg|thumb|In the spring of 1904, many parts of the northeastern United States experienced severe flooding. [[Bob Satterfield (cartoonist)|Bob Satterfield]] portrayed politicians, bureaucrats, etc., trapped in the floods, which are not of water, but of various scandal (9 April 1904) [http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn88085187/1904-04-09/ed-1/seq-1/].]]
{{main|Political scandal}}
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.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.zum.de/whkmla/sp/1112/nemesis/hyun2.html |title=Scandals in French History as Portrayed in Historic Encyclopedias |last=Park |first=Hyun |date=December 2009 |publisher=Zum.De |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140824103458/http://www.zum.de/whkmla/sp/1112/nemesis/hyun2.html |archive-date=2014-08-24}}</ref>

==Business==
{{further|List of corporate collapses and scandals}}

In 2012, [[Michael Woodford (executive)|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."<ref>{{Cite book|title=Exposure: Inside the Olympus Scandal: How I Went from CEO to Whistleblower (2012)|date=27 November 2012|isbn=978-1591845751|last1=Woodford|first1=Michael|publisher=Portfolio/Penguin }}</ref>

==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.{{Sfn|Ehrat|2011|p=1}}

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.<ref>Trahair, R.C.S ''From Aristotelian to Reaganomics: A Dictionary of Eponyms With Biographies in the Social Sciences''. Santa Barbara, Calif.: Greenwood Publishing Group, 1994. {{ISBN|0-313-27961-6}}</ref><ref>Smith, Ronald D. and Richter, William Lee. ''Fascinating People and Astounding Events From American History''. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, 1993. {{ISBN|0-87436-693-3}}</ref><ref>Lull, James and Hinerman, Stephen. ''Media Scandals: Morality and Desire in the Popular Culture Marketplace''. New York: Columbia University Press, 1997. {{ISBN|0-231-11165-7}}</ref><ref>Hamilton, Dagmar S. "The Nixon Impeachment and the Abuse of Presidential Power", In ''Watergate and Afterward: The Legacy of Richard M. Nixon''. Leon Friedman and William F. Levantrosser, eds. Santa Barbara, Calif.: Greenwood Publishing Group, 1992. {{ISBN|0-313-27781-8}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://internacional.elpais.com/internacional/2008/11/04/actualidad/1225753214_850215.html |title=El 'valijagate' sigue dando disgustos a Cristina Fernández &#124; Internacional |work=EL PAÍS |date=4 November 2008 |access-date=28 July 2014}}</ref>

===Journalism===
{{main|Journalistic scandal}}
Journalistic scandals relate to high-profile incidents or acts, whether done purposefully or by accident. It could be in violation of normally in vogue [[Journalism ethics and standards|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."{{Sfn|Reviews|2013|p=63}}

===Television===
{{further|1950s quiz show scandals}}
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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.museum.tv/eotv/quizshowsca.htm|title=Quiz Show Scandals|access-date=15 December 2015|publisher= museum.tv}}</ref>

==Sex scandals==
{{See also|Roman Catholic sex abuse cases|Political sex scandals of the United States}}

A [[sex scandal]] is a scandal involving allegations or information about possibly-immoral [[Human sexual activity|sexual activities]] being made public. Sex scandals are often associated with [[sexual affair]]s of [[film star]]s, [[politician]]s, famous [[Sportsperson|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-[[sexual norm|normative]] or non-[[consent|consensual]] nature of their sexual activity.<ref name="sk"/> A sex scandal may be based on reality, the product of false allegations, or a mixture of both.

==Sports==
{{further|List of sporting scandals|Olympic Games scandals and controversies}}
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|date=February 2022}} consider that doping is "now endemic"{{when|date=February 2022}} in the world of sport and is becoming extremely pervasive, including more and more sports.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/nov/13/doping-scandals-international-sport-any-credibility-left|first =Maurice|last = Fitzgerald|title=After the doping scandals, has international sport got any credibility left?|date=13 November 2015|access-date=15 December 2015|work=The Guardian}}</ref>

One of the biggest individual scandals flowed from revelations that former American [[road bicycle racing|road cycling]] champion [[Lance Armstrong doping case|Lance Armstrong]] had achieved success by consistent, long-term cheating. One of the biggest institutional sporting scandals is the [[2015 FIFA corruption case]]. [[Doping in sport|Doping]] scandals have plagued the [[Olympic Games]] as well, such as in the [[Doping in East Germany]] scandal and the [[1994 Asian Games#Doping scandal|Asian Games in 1994]]. Scandals in match games such as [[Major League Baseball scandals|Major League baseball]] and [[John the bookmaker controversy|cricket]] may relate to [[spot-fixing]] or [[gambling]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/top-news-of-2011/Sports-scandals-in-the-year-2011/articleshow/11300047.cms|last = V Narayan Swamy|title=Sports scandals in the year 2011 |date=30 December 2011|access-date=15 December 2015|work=The Times of India}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of scandals with "-gate" suffix]]
*[[1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal]]

==References==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em|refs=
<ref name="sk">{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-the-strauss-kahn-and-schwarzenegger-scandals-dont-go-together/2011/05/19/AFZi2u7G_story.html?wprss=rss_homepage|title=Why the Strauss-Kahn and Schwarzenegger scandals don't go together|author=Juliet A. Williams|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=21 May 2011}}</ref>
}}

==Bibliography==
{{sister project links|collapsible=true|voy=no|species=no|d=Q192909}}
* {{cite book|last= Davis |first=John H. |title=Perpetuation of the United States of America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V6rOBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA84|date=8 December 2014|publisher=Xlibris Corporation|isbn=978-1-5035-2189-6}}{{Self-published inline|certain=yes|date=December 2017}}
* {{cite book|last= Dirks |first=Nicholas B |title=The Scandal of Empire: India and the creation of imperial Britain|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xiPd26ngXLkC&pg=PA7|date=30 June 2009|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-03426-6}}
* {{cite book|author=Ehrat|title=Power of Scandal: Semiotic and Pragmatic in Mass Media|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=brG4sHkABcQC|year=2011|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-1-4426-4125-9|first = Johannes}}
* {{cite book|last= Moeller |first=Robert R. |title=Sarbanes-Oxley Internal Controls: Effective Auditing with AS5, CobiT, and ITIL|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ii8iYPJbVu0C&pg=PA194|date=15 August 2008|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-0-470-28992-1}}
* {{cite book|last= Ponceau |first=Peter Stephen Du |title=A Discourse on the Necessity and the Means of Making Our National Literature Independent of that of Great Britain: Delivered Before the Members of the Pennsylvania Library of Foreign Literature and Science, on Saturday, Feb. 15, 1834|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X-s5AQAAMAAJ&pg=PR5|year=1834|publisher=E. G. Dorsey|isbn=9780608426365 }}
* {{cite book|last= Vargo |first=Marc E |title=Scandal: Infamous Gay Controversies of the Twentieth Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d0gVAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA1|date=12 November 2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-76610-0}}
*{{cite book|last1= Williams |first1=Anne |last2= Head |first2=Vivian |title=Infamous Scandals|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1km2wLU5ocwC|year=2008|publisher=Book Sales|isbn=978-0-7088-0365-3}}
* {{cite book|last1= Wilson |first1=Colin |last2= Wilson |first2=Damon |title=Scandal!: An Explosive Exposé of the Affairs, Corruption and Power Struggles of the Rich and Famous|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GM2_O5dJ6GUC|date=31 May 2011|publisher=Ebury Publishing|isbn=978-0-7535-4732-8}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book | last=Garment | first=S. | title=Scandal: The Culture of Mistrust in American Politics | publisher=Anchor Books | year=1991 | isbn=978-0-385-42511-7 | url=https://archive.org/details/scandalcultureof0000garm| url-access=registration }} 375 pages.

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Scandals| ]]