History Main / FictionAsCoverUp

* In Creator/AlanDeanFoster's ''Quozl'', a human friend of the rabbit-like aliens stranded on Earth produces a kiddie cartoon show about rabbit-like aliens stranded on Earth. Her brother confronts her about it, but she waves him off when she makes him realize that anyone claiming that cartoon characters actually live in a national park would never be taken seriously. As for the real Quozl, they discover the broadcasts and while they are insulted and feel used by her, they realize that trying to interfere with the broadcasts would do far more harm than good and instead insist on being secret creative consultants in order to make the situation more bearable and perhaps use it to their advantage when they [[TheUnmasquedWorld come out of hiding]].

* During WorldWarII, the FBI considered censoring American science fiction stories about atomic (or to use a popular term of the time "uranium") bombs and similar stories about nuclear physics. They decided to let the stories get published because [[RevealingCoverup the sudden absence of them after years of them would alert other nations that they were being censored because of real life research]].

* In ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}} Illuminati'', the Conspiracy encourages the WeeklyWorldNews and similar publications to write up stories about conspiracy so that the Serious Press won't believe them.

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* Creator/IsaacAsimov's short story ''Paté de foie gras'' describes a group of scientists who found a goose who laid golden eggs; after testing every theory they could think of to figure out why, they decided to write about the exploit in hopes of getting advice from outside sources. Due to the need for secrecy, they of course published it as a fictional short story, safe in the knowledge that no one would believe it...

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* Inverted in the ''{{WebOriginal/Paradise}}'' setting. In the years leading up to the dawning of TheUnmasquedWorld, when the fact that some people were being transformed into {{Funny Animal}}s stopped being InvisibleToNormals, a greater-than-normal number of shows and stories featuring anthropomorphic animals were featured in popular entertainment-—apparently to get the general public acclimated to seeing them around.

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-->I published [my serious predictions about the future of biology] in a German science-fiction anthology and found out ... that if one wants to hide a certain piece of information from the world and conceal it perfectly from everybody's sight, it should not be hidden in safes, dungeons, behind code-locks, or by burying at the graveyard at midnight; simply publish it as science fiction, in a million copies if you wish, and the Devil himself will not recognize it for what it is ...

* Something similar to this concerns politically-charged writing. It's often been said that 'genre' writers are often allowed to get away with a lot more social, economic, and political commentary in their books, especially in authoritarian regimes that seek to censor dissenting views, partly due to the SciFiGhetto causing science fiction and fantasy to be frequently dismissed out of hand, and partly because such themes are harder to spot against the backdrop of a more fantastical world as opposed to the 'real world'. Creator/StanislawLem mentioned this in [[http://solaris.lem.pl/ksiazki/eseje/moloch/174-fragment-moloch-eksformacja one of his essays]]:

* Creator/StanislawLem mentioned something similar in [[http://solaris.lem.pl/ksiazki/eseje/moloch/174-fragment-moloch-eksformacja one of his essays]]:

* The basic premise of ''[[http://www.pelgranepress.com/?p=7141 The Dracula Dossier]]'' (a campaign setting for ''Night's Black Agents'') is that British Intelligence tried to recruit Dracula in the 1890s, he double-crossed them, and the novel ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'' is actually a heavily edited version of the after-action report, released as disinformation. Pelgrane has published ''Dracula Unredacted'', which in-game is Stoker's original manuscript with notes made by three prior Intelligence analysts, which the [=PCs=] can read for clues.

* Many MegaTen fans take ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'''s mention of a [[RaidouKuzunohaVsTheSoullessArmy Raidou Kuzunoha]] movie as this. It would make it the only indication of any games in the series (beyond the direct sequels and Persona sub-series) to take place in the same ([[{{Multiverse}} exact]]) universe.

Subtrope of CassandraGambit. See also PlausibleDeniability and AllPartOfTheShow. When the "fake fake show" is a direct part of the main plot, it's a ShowWithinAShow.

* Zigzagged in ''ComicBook/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen''. On one hand, the titular league (and its predecessors and successors) are covered up as fiction by biographers, who are then passed off as fiction writers, e.g. Creator/WilliamShakespeare and Creator/HGWells. On the other, many events ([[Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds the Martian invasion]]), places ([[Series/TheWestWing the nation of Qurac]]), and people ([[Series/TheThickOfIt British government official Malcolm Tucker]]) are all presented as real to the public, nor is there any attempt to argue otherwise.

* In ''TabletopGame/HaltEvilDoer'', the ''Literature/JamesBond'' franchise is strongly implied to exist as a coverup of the setting's Bond {{Expy}}, Jacob Hunter. The [[LegacyCharacter current]] Jacob Hunter, who is a CompositeCharacter of the Daniel Craig Bond and [[Film/TheBourneSeries Jason Bourne]] finds it really tiresome.

** Ironically, the Raidou Kuzunoha reference was [[http://www.atlus.com/forum/showpost.php?p=91741&postcount=16 solely a product of the localization]]; in the original Japanese version, it was actually a reference to both the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosuke_Kindaichi Kosuke Kindaichi]] mystery novels and the ''KindaichiCaseFiles'' manga/anime/live-action adaptations.

* ''Film/ReturnOfTheLivingDead'' starts with the premise that ''Film/NightOfTheLivingDead'' was a fictionalized account of actual events, with certain elements changed for security reasons.

* ''TheFaculty'' provides the page quote, in which two GenreSavvy characters speculate on the possibility of AlienInvasion movies serving this purpose.

* In the [[Literature/HarryPotter Harry Potter]] fic ''Who Needs Obliviators?'', this is played with a bit: American Sentinels (Aurors) pass off any public magic use as filmshoots, instead of mind-wiping the Muggles.

* ''ReturnOfTheLivingDead'' starts with the premise that ''NightOfTheLivingDead'' was a fictionalized account of actual events, with certain elements changed for security reasons.
* The AlternateRealityGame based on the ''Film/{{Transformers}}'' films indicate the franchise is truly one of these, with Franchise/TransformersGenerationOne being a ruse to hide first contact between our races and the films being a response to increased Decepticon activity. [[ActorAllusion Agent]] [[HugoWeaving H. Weaving]] was assigned to the films to maintain utmost control.

* Inverted by the White Court of vampires in ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'', which arranged for the publication of ''{{Dracula}}'' in order to expose the rival Black Court vampires' secrets and vulnerabilities.

* Inverted in ''LittleGreenMen'', in which Majestic 12, rather than covering up abductions, actually ''stages'' them to drum up a belief in alien life, in order to justify maintaining spending for [=NASA=]. It turns out that the real truth that the Government is trying to conceal is that outer space is ''really, really boring''.

** Apparently, this was a {{defictionalization}} of [[EpilepticTrees a fan theory]] claiming that the Franchise/StargateVerse itself is an example of this trope, with the shows being used to [[ConspiracyTheory cover up a real-life Stargate program]]. There was actually a real (and now-declassified) [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stargate_Project "Stargate" program]], only it [[NamesTheSame involved research into remote viewing]], and was ended in 1995 due to a failure to produce results. (Or so they say...) It was the inspiration for the book and film ''TheMenWhoStareAtGoats''.

* In the ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}'' setting ''Illuminati'', the Conspiracy encourages the WeeklyWorldNews and similar publications to write up stories about conspiracy so that the Serious Press won't believe them.

* As well as most of the {{Expy}} science fiction shows the main characters are fans of, in ''{{Fans}}!'' even shows like ''Series/SesameStreet'' are apparently constructs funded by the F.I.B to serve this purpose. The Count? Really a vampire.

* Inverted in the ''{{Paradise}}'' setting. In the years leading up to the dawning of TheUnmasquedWorld, when the fact that some people were being transformed into {{Funny Animal}}s stopped being InvisibleToNormals, a greater-than-normal number of shows and stories featuring anthropomorphic animals were featured in popular entertainment-—apparently to get the general public acclimated to seeing them around.
* Slightly different take on the subject in the WhateleyUniverse. Famous horror writer Michael Waite's best known book, "Incongruity", was a huge success. Michael Waite died. Sort of. He became 'Carmilla' who is prophesied to evolve into The Kellith and sweep humanity off the planet and replace humanity with its spawn. It turns out that "Incongruity" is really The First Book of The Kellith.
* In a number of JohnCWright's online short stories, it is stated that all science fiction is records of actual events from the past, present and future, disguised as speculative fiction, and the annual meetings of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America [[http://www.scifiwright.com/2011/10/the-eve-of-all-saints-day/comment-page-1/#comment-67616 is when authors are assigned authentic manuscripts and diaries to turn into publishable stories.]]

* In ''KimPossible'' it turns out that Area51 really is filled with aliens and captured spacecraft that the government is experimenting on, and the government deliberately leaked all the rumors and conspiracy theories to the public because they knew nobody would really believe it if "the truth" ever got out. Kim and Ron are understandably perturbed that that they are being asked to help keep a secret that everybody already knows.

* Creator/IsaacAsimov's short story ''Paté de foie gras'' describes a group of scientist who have found a goose who laid golden eggs; after testing every theory they could think of to figure out why, they decided to write about the exploit in hopes of getting advice from outside sources. Due to the need for secrecy, they of course published it as a fictional short story, safe in the knowledge that no one would believe it...
* In Creator/AlanDeanFoster's ''Quozl'', a human friends of the rabbit-like aliens stranded on Earth produces a kiddie cartoon show about rabbit-like aliens stranded on Earth. Her brother confronts her about it, but she waves him off when she makes him realize that anyone claiming that cartoon characters actually live in a national park would never be taken seriously. As for the real Quozl, they discover the broadcasts and while they are insulted and feel used by her, they realize that trying to interfere with the broadcasts would do far more harm than good and instead insist on being secret creative consultants in order to make the situation more bearable and perhaps use it to their advantage when they [[TheUnmasquedWorld come out of hiding]].

->'''[[{{Goth}} Stokely]]''': So they've just been setting us up over the years with their ''[[Film/ETTheExtraterrestrial E.T.]]'''s and their ''Film/MenInBlack'' movies, just so [[CassandraGambit no one would believe it if it ever happened]]?
->'''[[HollywoodNerd Casey]]''': I think so.

* An {{documentary}} in 2014, titled ''Mirage Men'', alleges that the US government was [[http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/aug/14/men-in-black-ufo-sightings-mirage-makers-movie actively involved]] in spreading conspiracy theories about extraterrestrials. The logic was that, if people (and hopefully the Soviets too) believed that the strange lights in the Nevada desert were visitors from outer space, then they'd pay less attention to the top-secret experimental aircraft that the Air Force was ''actually'' testing at {{Area 51}}, along with other black projects that the military was engaged in. (The [[AliensStealCattle cattle mutilations]] of the '70s, for instance, were likely connected to an ill-advised experiment in "nuclear fracking".) Of course, this film could be just another layer of the cover-up...