Introduction:
A toolbox for lies and deception

The story began with a quote from an anonymous official from the Indian state of Maharashtra. It was reported by the Press Trust of India and then revealed to a wider audience by a Republican congresswoman speaking on CNN. A few hours later it spread all over the internet and the world learnt that President Barack Obama’s trip to Asia was going to cost US taxpayers $200 million a day — a staggering $2 billion dollars for the entire ten-day trip. The numbers were huge, and they grew in detail with every new version of the story.

He was taking 2000 people with him — no, it was 3000. Hundreds of hotel rooms had been booked — no, it was 870 — and they were all in five-star hotels like the one at the Taj Mahal. Thirty-four US navy war ships were accompanying the President — later, it was 10 per cent of the entire navy. It was an outrageous waste of government money.

There was just one problem — it wasn’t true. It wasn’t close to being true, even for those who think there are shades of truth.

The Obama story is an example of the classic political lie: a fabrication spread by Tea Party congresswoman Michele Bachmann, right-wing talk show hosts and online sites. The $200-million-a-day figure was ludicrous — the entire war in Afghanistan, with the deployment of thousands of troops, was costing less than that. Presidential trips do involve large entourages — including a huge security presence — but the cost was more like $5 million per day. The US Navy was going to be there — for exercises with allies — but not 34 ships and not 10 per cent of the navy.

While the true version of the story appeared on traditional media outlets, the false version reached many millions. It was an early example of what might now be called Trumpean falsehoods, after the serially mendacious President of the United States. Blatant lies helped to get him elected and persuaded millions of Americans to support his presidency. These attempts to distort the truth — practised by politicians of all parties and nationalities, to a greater or lesser degree — at least have the merit of being relatively easy to spot, and refute. They are put to the test and exposed by journalists asking the right questions. If you want to find out whether such a story is true, you can.

But there are other forms of government and corporate lying and deception that are harder to spot. There is a large and growing number of methods that the rich, the powerful and the elected use to prevent truth coming out — to bury it, warp it, twist it to suit their purposes. This toolbox of deception is used not only to promote their interests or defeat opponents but to conceal blunders or crimes, to cover up corruption or hide things