Rita - Luna and the Qubbler

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 169556

---  "sistermagpie" <sistermagpie at ...> wrote:
>
> Alla:
> 
> Rita Skeeter IMO while obviously not a Voldemort 
> supporter was printing deliberate lies for nothing 
> else except profit. I think it is very bad, unless 
> any sort of noble purpose existed there.
> 
> ...
> 
> Magpie:
> ...
> 
> But just to be clear on what Rita does, exactly (since
> I think there are plenty of people who actually do what
> she does in our world), if printing lies is terrible, 
> it's Luna's family Hermione should be blackmailing. 
> Their paper seems to print complete rubbish ..., ...
> 

bboyminn:

Let's be clear there is a big difference between what
Rita and the Prophet do and what Luna's father and the
Quibbler do. The Prophet prints flat out lies and
deception for profit or for convenient political ends.
What the Quibbler prints is perceived truth or presumed
truth. In other words, Luna and her father really 
believe all that crap is true. Rita on the other hand
knows full well that she is printing bullocks, but as
long as it is commercially viable and politically
advantageous, who cares?

> Magpie:
>
> Printing lies for money doesn't exactly describe Rita's 
> job entirely .... She makes Harry and his friends far 
> angrier not for printing lies but for printing slants 
> they don't like, ... or true things like that Hagrid is
> a half-giant or iirc that Hermione's been invited to 
> Bulgaria. She sometimes misquotes to get a better story, 
> ...
> 

bboyminn:

To some extent I agree with you, Rita and the Prophet are
publishing a /slant/ that Harry and the gang don't like,
but more often, it is not slant but a twisted 
sensationalistic version of the truth that sells paper 
but in no way reflects realty or actual truth.

For example, yes Rita published that Hagrid was a 
half-giant, that was truth, but she spun the story in
a way that made Hagrid seem like a mad killer, a
danger to everyone around him, which was not the truth.
The may letters of support that Hagrid received from 
students who remembered him proved that.

Rita took a seed of truth and spun it into a functional
lie. Luna and her father take pure fantasy which they
assume to be true and publish it as if it were true.
Surely you must see the difference? 

Steve/bboyminn