The Daily Prophet
|
The Daily Prophet is a fictional newspaper featured in the Harry Potter book series as the most widely-read newspaper in England's wizard community. Unfortunately its journalistic integrity is somewhat lacking; it's been known to be more concerned about selling itself than about factual accuracy (the name may very well be a pun), and to come under Ministry of Magic's thumb when the Ministry wills it.
Warner Bros.'s Harry Potter website's news and events page has been named after the paper.
The Prophet remains respectable (and obscure) for the first three books, but by Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, it has hired Rita Skeeter, a repulsive journalist who supplies several high-quality, thrilling and blatantly false articles with the help of her photographer, Bozo. These include outing Hagrid as a demi-human and declaring Harry as "disturbed and dangerous".
After the Ministry took the stance of firmly denying Lord Voldemort's return, the Prophet initiated a smear campaign against Dumbledore and Harry, the most influential proponents of the opposing view. Though Rita was blackmailed out of her job by Hermione, her works had done enough to form its basis. They made Harry out to be an attention seeking prat, and snuck snide comments about him into the Prophet. Dumbledore was declared to be losing his mind in his old age, and the loss of some of his honors was much touted, while conveniently failing to mention the cause: Cornelius Fudge's paranoid beliefs that Dumbledore was plotting against him.
After Fudge was forced to admit that Lord Voldemort had returned, the Prophet changed its stance overnight, now calling Harry "a lone voice of truth." The newspaper even bought Harry's interview on Voldemort's rise from The Quibbler, which Harry had—ironically enough—done with none other than an unwilling Rita Skeeter.
The Quibbler may be seen as a foil to the Prophet. The Prophet has commercialized nature and prints stories for the money. The Quibbler prints stories not for money, but the ideology of sharing important news. Neither the newspaper or the magazine are very accurate; the Prophet's stories are twisted to make them seem more exciting and the editor of The Quibbler is so open-minded that many of the stories are very absurd.