While the wizarding world of the Harry Potter series exhibits many parallels with the non-magical, or Muggle, world in the structure of its government, there’s one key difference between it and ordinary, everyday England: the wizarding world has its own state press. The Daily Prophet is far from an objective news source, and J.K. Rowling uses the paper throughout the novels as a commentary on the dangers of a state-controlled press. This slant becomes especially evident once an alternative appears in the form of The Quibbler, an independent publication that runs into its own problems.
The Daily Prophet's smear campaign against Harry shows its role as the state's mouthpiece
In the earlier novels, The Daily Prophet is usually quoted with little comment, and while its role begins to change in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Scholastic, 2000), this is mostly due to the sensationalistic journalistic inventions of unscrupulous reporter Rita Skeeter. It’s in the fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Scholastic, 2003) that the paper shifts towards an editorial perspective overtly controlled by the Ministry of Magic. The Ministry refuses to accept that the evil Lord Voldemort has returned, and attempts to discredit Harry for claiming that he witnessed this event.
There is no journalistic objectivity in the Prophet’s articles in this volume. Stories such as “The Boy Who Lies," a vicious play on Harry’s reputation as “The Boy Who Lived;" and “Dumbledore: Daft or Dangerous?” make the paper’s agenda crystal clear. The smear campaign not only affects Harry’s reputation and causes him difficulties at school, but it’s also dangerous to the wizarding world at large. It creates a false sense of security by convincing the public at large that Voldemort hasn’t returned, and leaves the people unprepared to deal with the reality of the situation.
The Quibbler represents the necessity of a free press to oppose the state's views
To get his story out, Harry turns to The Quibbler, run by the eccentric father of his classmate Luna Lovegood. It’s a risky move, as The Quibbler has a reputation for printing utter nonsense, but this seemingly inconsequential paper represents the value of a genuinely free press. It takes courage to run Harry’s interview at a time when the Ministry has blackened his name. It is a decision that could have disastrous consequences, but the paper doesn’t hesitate to run the piece.
Naturally, a regime determined to impose its view on the people through state controlled media does what such regimes regularly do in the real world: it attempts to ban distribution of publications that run contrary to its views. Specifically, Dolores Umbridge, appointed as Hogwarts High Inquisitor as part of the Ministry’s attempts to rein in Dumbledore’s determined independence, issues an educational decree banning possession of The Quibbler on the school’s grounds. And as with all such efforts at censorship, this one only makes the paper more popular with the students and helps Harry’s cause.
When it becomes apparent to everyone that Voldemort has truly returned, the Prophet completely changes its tone. With no apologies for its prior slanders, the paper throws its support behind Harry and even reprints the Quibbler interview, claiming it as their own exclusive. This move suggests that the state-supported press is inherently corrupt, slavishly following the Ministry’s lead rather than possessing any sort of editorial independence. Even when it changes its tune, it does so for politically expedient reasons and steals another paper’s work in the process.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows shows how freedom of the press becomes nearly impossible in a totalitarian regime
Sadly, the freedom represented by The Quibbler comes to an end in the final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Scholastic, 2007). When the Ministry comes under the control of Lord Voldemort himself, its efforts to quash dissent become far more vicious than they ever were before. Xenophilius Lovegood is punished for his support of Harry when Voldemort’s Death Eaters kidnap Luna, and out of fear for her life he abandons his former journalistic principles. He not only publishes an article denouncing Harry, he also alerts the Death Eaters when Harry and his friends come to his house seeking information. Xenophilius remains a sympathetic figure since he doesn’t betray Harry of his own will, but his actions are a grim comment on the difficulty of maintaining journalistic resistance under a totalitarian regime.
By the end of the series, it’s unclear whether the Prophet will remain a Ministry mouthpiece even under a more benevolent regime, or whether The Quibbler can resume its formerly independent stance. But Rowling’s portrayal of the two papers throughout the latter half of the series makes it clear that a state-controlled press is dangerous because of its disregard for the truth and its single-minded pursuit of a political agenda. However difficult it may be, maintaining a free press where opposition viewpoints can flourish is crucial for the health of society, for wizards as much as for Muggles.
Paul Brown - Paul Ferrell Brown graduated from the College of William and Mary in 1994 with a B.A. in English literature, and completed his M.A. in ...
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