[HPforGrownups] Information dissemination in the WW

[manawydan]

No: HPFGUIDX 86418

Nora wrote:
> But let me make that more specific:  Is there, and how is there if
> there is, political/social debate/commentary/discussion in the WW?
> Kneasy refers to DD, and any other faction, presumably (because it's
> not mentioned) not taking a public stance against the use of
> Unforgivables as authorized by Crouch.

As far as we know, the media is (are?) a lot smaller in scale than in our
world. It's quite possible that there are more publications (doesn't
Hermione say something about village newsletters in OoP?) but from her
rather scathing attitude, they don't seem to be on a very high level.

Possibly this follows from the fact that there's no distinction between the
administration and the bureaucracy in the WW. If you're interested in a
political career, you join the Ministry. If you're interested in an
administrative career, you join the Ministry. So that there's a strong
correlation between the political class and the civil service. That in turn
would mean that most political discussion would take place within the
Ministry walls but, by the time it came out to the general public, it had
been toned down and fudged (no pun intended!) into the appearance of
agreement and unanimity.

Another conclusion that follows from this is that drastic political change
is impossible within the system. There is no "government" and "opposition",
there's just the Ministry. So if you _want_ drastic political change, the
only option is the Voldemort option, that of conspiracy and plotting. Maybe
part of the reason that there may have been a tradition of Dark side
conspiracies is just that, that there is no legitimate way of expressing
political dissidence.

Not that I'm in any way identifying Voldemort with Michael Howard or saying
that all young Tom Riddle needed was the possibility of becoming a Young
Conservative!

Information seems to be carefully (and quite subtly) managed. I've suggested
in the past that information is passed to the Muggle government by an
unobtrusive MoM agent in a central Muggle department such as the Cabinet
Office. Similarly, although on the surface the "Prophet" seems to criticise
the Ministry a lot, it limits itself to criticising individuals or policies.
It's not critical of the system itself (but then why should it be? The only
people who criticise the system are conspirators, Death Eaters, and the
like). This in turn means that if the Ministry was (for example) to conduct
a whispering campaign against Harry, it's relatively easy to get the
"Prophet" to play ball. After all, the Prophet is reliant on official
sources in the Ministry for its major news stories.

Equally, the Wireless gives the impression of being a bit like the old-style
Reithian BBC, at arms length from, but sharing the same values as, the
government.

The "Quibbler" seems less easy to categorise. It's not quite in the "Daily
Sport" or "National Enquirer" mould, because if it was, then _no-one_ would
have given credibility to Harry's interview. Possibly it's more like the way
"Private Eye" used to be, a publication that's both satirical and
investigative, and recognised as such by the WW.

Cheers

Ffred

O Benryn wleth hyd Luch Reon
Cymru yn unfryd gerhyd Wrion
Gwret dy Cymry yghymeiri