Scandal

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For other uses, see Scandal (disambiguation).

A scandal is a widely publicized incident involving allegations of wrong-doing, disgrace, or moral outrage. A scandal may be based on reality, or the product of false allegations, or a mixture of both.

Some scandals are broken by a whistle-blower revealing wrongdoing within an organization or a group. Falsely alleged scandals can lead to a witch-hunt against the innocent. Sometimes an attempt to cover up a scandal ignites a greater scandal when the cover-up fails. Classes of scandals include:

political scandals
sex scandals
academic scandals
sporting scandals (especially Olympic Games scandals)

[edit] USA

The United States in the 1950s was swept by a wave of quiz show scandals. Another major type of scandal is a corporate scandal, especially corporate accounting scandals. A wave of corporate accounting scandals swept United States companies in 2002 (see accounting scandals of 2002).