Rita Skeeter ( WAS: Re: Hermione's growth)

[slgazit]

No: HPFGUIDX 82601

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "msbeadsley" <msbeadsley at y...> 
wrote:
> In message # 82571, Salit wrote:
> > The real story was boring? Had she bothered to do some real 
> > research, she might have been able to write about the saving of 
the 
> > Sorcerers' Stone or about the basilisk and maybe even Tom Riddle 
> > (granted, saving Sirius Black was top secret).
> 
> She wasn't about to write about narrowly averted disasters (unless
> they were averted by the Ministry). She wants to sell papers, and 
the
> atmosphere then is one where denial of any activity by LV is the 
> party line.

I was talking about Rita's behaviour in GoF, not OoP. Was there a 
ministry party line wrt Voldemort then? That was before his 
resurection, and initially she wrote positively about Harry, even if 
she lied a lot.

> The flipside: didn't Neville say, when he expressed solidarity with 
> Harry, that his grandmother had stopped taking The Daily Prophet?

But this was after Rita Skeeter stopped writing for the Daily 
Prophet. I was referring to her behaviour in GoF.

> Of course she did. People love dirt, and watching other people fall 
> from grace into it.

I am not arguing about that, only about her philosophy of only 
publishing dirt and half-truths (or outright lies).

> I think it's more like the New York Daily News, personally. I don't
> The WW *has* a NY Times.

The Daily Prophet is the "official" news media there. I am not sure 
the NYTimes was a good example - maybe the Washington Post? Anyway, 
it is the only news source for most british wizards, as it seems. 
This lays a responsibility on it at least invest minimal effort to 
substantiate its stories. Instead it acts as a combination 
supermarket rag and a ministry mouthpiece. But then we see that the 
wizard administration functions much like the worst of totalitarian 
states (people thrown to jail or even executed without trial, or a 
mock trial if that; media censorship; people lose their jobs if they 
don't tow the party line; no control over the executive branch, 
etc.). I suppose that is just a manifestation of the same.

> And Rita Skeeter is definitely a toe-rag [deleted].
> On the other hand, Umbridge 
> actually believes in what she's doing. She believes she is the one 
> who should be ordering things.

I never tried to equate the two. I agree that Rita and Dolores are on 
completely different scales. Rita is just a disgusting excuse for a 
journalist. Dolores is a very frightening person - who will not 
shrink from anything - including torture and murder - to accomplish 
her ends. It will be interesting to see how their experience in OoP 
will affect their future behaviour. I have some hope that Rita will 
reform (though not much, frankly), but the best that can be expected 
for Umbridge is that she will be too traumatized to do much damage, 
as she is clearly incapable of doing good.

Salit