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Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Magic/The Daily Prophet

Overview
The Daily Prophet is the Wizard's authoritative daily newspaper. It is delivered by owl post in the morning, at a cost of (variously) 1 to 5 Knuts per issue. There is mention in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, among other places, of The Evening Prophet, which we presume is an evening edition of the same paper, and elsewhere of The Sunday Prophet which would of course be the weekend edition of the paper.

Extended Description
The Daily Prophet does tend to publish the Ministry of Magic's official line, rather than anything that would be controversial. Unfortunately, as far as daily papers go, it does seem to be a monopoly, so dissenting views have no way to get published except through tabloids like The Quibbler, which can be more damaging to their message than not publishing at all.

Analysis
In the early books (up to the end of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban), Harry and the Ministry of Magic are relatively closely aligned in their goals; so for the first three books, the Daily Prophet appears to be a simple news-gathering organ, and appears to function quite effectively in that role. The paper starts to be adversarial in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, though there what we seem to be seeing is the uniform nastiness of a single reporter, Rita Skeeter, who seems to be happiest when she is doing a hatchet job on somebody. In that book, and apparently in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (based on Hagrid's comment "Ministry o' Magic messing up again"), the target of the paper's reporting seems to be the Ministry.

It is in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix that the paper seems to start diverging from its role as a news gatherer, and verging on propaganda. Harry has discovered an unwelcome truth (Lord Voldemort has returned); Professor Dumbledore, to the dismay of the Ministry, accepts Harry's story. Cornelius Fudge, then Minister for Magic, perceives that allowing this news to be disseminated will result in an end to his tenure. The Ministry, according to Rita Skeeter, leans on the Prophet to force it to print stories that would discredit Harry and Dumbledore, and thus weaken the effects of anything they might say in public.

As is so often the case in public life, when the pendulum swings, it swings rapidly and to the other extreme. At the very end of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the cat is let out of the bag when a number of Ministry wizards actually see Voldemort physically in the Ministry offices, so that Fudge can no longer deny his return; by the start of the next book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the Daily Prophet is hailing Harry as The Chosen One who will defeat Voldemort. Again, Ministry influence is strong; they are building Harry up because their own efforts are pretty ineffectual (in the course of the year, apparently there are only about three arrests of suspected Death Eaters, none of whom are confirmed), and the Ministry feels, rightly, that they need a Hero. The Prophet is still acting as the mouthpiece of the administration. Whether it still carries any hard news at all is uncertain; certainly, anything that would discredit the Ministry is not printed.

However, during Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the Daily Prophet changes register again: although it isn't seen many times – Harry reads Dumbledore's elegy, written by Elphias Doge, and several excerpts from Dumbledore's biography written by Rita Skeeter – it is mentioned on various occasions that the newspaper is siding with the Voldemort-controlled Ministry, and actually printing stories that show Harry and his friends in the worst possible light. When Remus Lupin appears at Grimmauld Place after the wedding, for instance, he shows the Trio an issue in which it is mentioned that Harry is wanted so that he can be questioned about Dumbledore's death.

Questions

 * 1) In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Rita Skeeter chastises Hermione, saying that the business of a reporter is to sell newspapers. Is the changing editorial stance of the Prophet following this pattern? Why or why not?

Greater Picture
Over the course of the series, the character of The Daily Prophet changes. In the first four books, it is quite critical of the efforts of the Ministry, but in the fifth and sixth books it starts slanting its news, particularly those stories that concern Harry, Professor Dumbledore, and Voldemort, at the request of the Ministry. In the final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, what we see of the Prophet leads us to believe that it has become a Ministry-backed propaganda organ, publishing stories that are generated by Voldemort's Death Eaters in line with Voldemort's insane beliefs. Brought up in a country with a nominally free press, the student might find it hard to believe that a news publication could so quickly devolve into a party mouthpiece, but the sequence, when examined, is all too believable.

All news publishers depend to a certain extent on the good will of the government; it is the actions of the government that control people's lives, and a news organ that has no access to government spokespersons will have, in the ordinary run of affairs, very little news that people want to read. So if a government spokesman makes it a precondition of speaking to the press, that the press should follow the government lead, it does become more likely that the news publisher will print what the government wants printed. Additionally there is the option, used by many totalitarian governments, of using force to shut down non-conforming newspapers. In situations where there is only one newspaper, of course, it is easier for the government to apply pressure, and harder for the paper to resist; if there are multiple publishers, the government has to lean on all of them, or someone will publish what the government doesn't want known.

It is generally easier to apply effective pressure to an organization like the Prophet, than to a smaller publication like The Quibbler. We will find out that The Quibbler is basically a one-man operation, and does not need government access to continue operation. The publisher is also working out of personal belief, rather than for a job. If we look at the Prophet, particularly Rita Skeeter, we can safely guess that most of its employees are there for the money, and do not have significant emotional involvement in the slant of the news. This will make them less likely to fight a change in editorial direction, from opposing to supporting particular government initiatives, no matter how stupid they appear. The tendency to do the job as ordered, in order to keep receiving a paycheque, is all too human.

From the point of view of the final book, it is clear that the Prophet's bending to Government pressure to denigrate Harry and Dumbledore, which started in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, is the start of a clear progression that ends with the paper parroting Death Eater propaganda. We do not need to point out the parallel between the Ministry's influence over the Prophet, and the Ministry's increasing influence over Hogwarts though Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix; in both cases, it is obvious that the government, acting in an attempt at self-preservation, is simply gradually claiming power, using the existing power it has as a way to leverage more. In the case of the Prophet, it does seem that the amount of time it takes for the government to obtain complete control is somewhat compressed; against this, of course, we have to note the Death Eaters' willingness to use the Imperius curse to further their agenda.


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Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Magic/The Quibbler

Overview
The Quibbler is a sensationalist newspaper or magazine, much like the National Enquirer and the Weekly World News in the Muggle world. It prints stories that have been rejected by the established press, typically because they are apparently nonsense.

Extended Description
We first see The Quibbler when Luna Lovegood is reading it on the Hogwarts Express, deciphering a page which is deliberately printed upside down. It carries a story that suggests that in fact Sirius Black is in London, where he is performing in a rock band using the alias "Stubby Boardman". Luna is upset at Hermione's dismissal of the paper, saying that the publisher of The Quibbler is her father, Xenophilius Lovegood.

In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, when Harry is being pilloried in the traditional press for speaking honestly about his adventures, Hermione arranges with Luna and Rita Skeeter that Rita will interview Harry about Voldemort's return and write it up for publication, and Luna's father will then publish it. This results in Harry's story getting widely known, particularly at Hogwarts, where Professor Umbridge, a Ministry stooge, bans the paper as part of her attempts to cover up Voldemort's return.

In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, a party of refugees mentions in Harry's hearing that The Quibbler is now printing stories about what is really going on, and exhorting its readers to help Harry. Later, Luna Lovegood is taken hostage to force The Quibbler to toe the party line. Before any of these new "party line" issues are actually released, however, Xeno Lovegood is himself taken hostage, and it is not mentioned whether The Quibbler is converted into another Ministry mouthpiece after this or simply shuts down with the absence of the editor.

Analysis
The purpose of The Quibbler, quite simply, is to give us an alternate channel of publicity from the establishment press. If the establishment controls the news reporting, it can slant and censor the news as it chooses; without an alternate channel, the government's views are the only ones that will see the light of day. In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Rita tells us that Fudge and the Ministry are leaning on The Daily Prophet, which is part of why they are slanting the stories the way they are; the other part of it is that nasty stories, like the ones Rita wrote (she is on imposed hiatus at that point), sell papers, and selling papers is actually the whole point.

Greater Picture
A secondary purpose of the Quibbler is apparently illustration of just how necessary to an unjust regime it is to control the means of dissemination of information, and the steps they will take to that end. In the article on The Daily Prophet, we see how it becomes, over time, more and more a mouthpiece for the Ministry of Magic, until it finally seems to exist only to parrot the propaganda generated by Voldemort's minions. We note in that article that the Prophet is easier to influence than The Quibbler, because the Prophet will follow the money, where The Quibbler to a large extent will follow Xeno Lovegood's heart. It is unsurprising that Xeno, having found that he so rapidly sold out of the issue with Harry's interview in it, should continue to publish articles about Harry. Equally, it is unsurprising that he should continue to do so after the fall of the Ministry, as he has been, in his own mind at least, fighting the Ministry all along. It helps, no doubt, that articles about Harry would be popular among the resistance at that point. It is somewhat surprising that Death Eaters would resort to kidnapping Xeno's daughter as a way of controlling his press, but it is possible that, like Harry, Xeno is able to resist the Imperius curse.

It is worth noting that this sort of personal violence against publishers is not unheard of in the Muggles world. It is also possibly worth noting that, in nearly every aspect which we can see, by the time the Ministry falls, The Quibbler is classic "samizdat", printed in relatively small quantities and distributed through a back channel rather than on the news stands. Unfortunately, and possibly because of the relatively small size of the Wizarding population, The Quibbler is susceptible to threats of violence against a single person; and Xeno is not in a position where he can go into hiding and still keep publishing.

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Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Places/Borgin and Burkes

General Overview
Borgin & Burkes is a shop in Knockturn Alley that specializes in Dark magical artifacts.

Extended Description
In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, when Harry is using Floo powder to get to Diagon Alley, he accidentally turns up in Borgin & Burkes. Rapidly concealing himself, he overhears Lucius Malfoy selling some dark magical items so that the Ministry would not find them in his house.

Among the Dark artifacts that we see in this store are a Hand of Glory and a cursed necklace. We should also note that the large black cabinet that Harry hides in is a Disappearing Cabinet. All three of these artifacts will play roles in later stories.

In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Harry, Hermione, and Ron sneak off from Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes and follow Draco Malfoy to Borgin & Burkes, where by means of Extendable Ears, they overhear Malfoy telling Borgin that he needs something fixed. He also needs to buy another object but cannot take it with him. He doesn't want Borgin to tell anyone about it, not even his own mother, and threatens Borgin with one Fenrir Greyback, who he says is an old family friend. After Malfoy leaves, Hermione goes into the store and attempts to determine what it is that Malfoy had bought, but without success.

In that same book, we also learn that following his 7th year at Hogwarts, Tom Riddle worked there for a time, much to the surprise of everyone who knew him. We learn that it was while he was employed at Borgin & Burkes that he discovered that Hepzibah Smith owned artifacts of two of the Hogwarts founders: Hufflepuff's cup and Slytherin's locket.

Analysis
As mentioned in the article on Knockturn Alley, there will be places where Dark wizards can trade, places where "decent wizards don't go." Borgin & Burkes clearly is one such; while they do appear to do a reasonable amount of trade in non-Dark artifacts, as seen by Tom Riddle's negotiations with Hepzibah Smith regarding a suit of armour, and Smith's purchase of Slytherin's locket, their dealings with Lucius Malfoy clearly indicate that they do not discriminate between Dark and regular magical artifacts. We do not know whether this lack of discrimination controlled their settling in Knockturn Alley, or whether the Alley developed its reputation around the store. We do know that they have been in business since before the birth of Tom Riddle, as Slytherin's locket was sold to them by Merope Gaunt before Tom was born. However, we don't know how long before that the establishment existed. The name does indicate that it was founded by a Borgin and a Burke, and possibly the original Borgin still operates the store; but names mean little, as Ollivander's has been producing "fine wands since 382 BC," much longer than Mr. Ollivander, its current proprietor, can possibly have been alive, without the help of a magical artifact such as the Philosopher's Stone.

The mature reader may have difficulty understanding exactly how Borgin & Burkes stay in business, as the vanishing cabinet, the cursed necklace, and the Hand of Glory, which we see in Harry's second year, are still there in Harry's sixth year for Draco to purchase. If the store was at all successful, we would not expect things, even expensive things like the vanishing cabinet and the necklace, to stay in the store stock four years. In Dumbledore's Pensieve, we do see that Borgin buys very cheap and sells very dear, but even the profit margin implicit in his questionable ethical stance would not be enough to keep the store going unless there was a lot of business we weren't seeing. However, we must mention that the intended audience for this series are children with an incomplete understanding of economics; to a child, when you go to a store where you have previously seen item X, the store will have it available for purchase, and it is unlikely that a child will draw a distinction between stock and unique items.

We note that by the time we actually see the store, Burke is no longer present; the oily Mr. Borgin is the one who is doing all the dealing. We see Mr. Burke only once, and that once in Professor Dumbledore's Pensieve. In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, we see a very aged Caractacus Burke reminiscing about a witch, dressed in rags, who had brought in a verifiable and essentially priceless artifact of Slytherin's, and had been satisfied to get only ten Galleons for it. By the time our story opens, Burke has at least retired, possibly passed away, and Borgin alone is running the store.

Greater Picture
The artifacts that we see in Borgin and Burkes - the Hand of Glory, the cursed necklace, and the Disappearing Cabinet - will re-appear, as mentioned above. The Disappearing Cabinet is apparently one of a pair; the second one is dropped by Peeves in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets to provide a distraction. In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Fred and George force Montague into the same disappearing cabinet, and the following year Draco Malfoy repairs it and uses it and its mate at Borgin and Burkes to manage an invasion of Hogwarts by Death Eaters. The jinxed necklace is given to Katie Bell to give to someone at Hogwarts, possibly Professor Dumbledore, but she touches it on her way back to the school and is nearly fatally cursed. Finally, the Hand of Glory is used by Draco as he leads the Death Eaters into the school. Having been discovered by members of Dumbledore's Army guarding that spot, Draco throws Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder, then uses the Hand of Glory to navigate himself and the Death Eaters through the resulting darkness.

It is interesting to see that as early as the second book, the author would have been aware of the need for artifacts like the Hand of Glory and the Disappearing Cabinet in the sixth book, and would take the steps necessary to introduce them and their properties to us. The fact that the large black cabinet would have transported Harry to Hogwarts had he closed the door completely in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is definitely of interest, and close examination of the writing of that chapter, to see how the author misdirects the reader into believing Harry had closed the door, might be valuable.


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Talk:German/Grammar/Adjectives and Adverbs

Untitled
Please choose another sentence than "Arbeit macht frei.". This is a phrase of Nazi propaganda and was on entries of concentration camp (KZ) during WW2. See http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbeit_macht_frei --HolgiDE 09:36, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

I Can not understand what's the meaning of oklahome in thie article !!! and what is the relationship between oklahome and the adjectives !!! anybody would explain this to me.

Support: It may be a clever idea if anyone knew what it meant. Looks like someones lecture notes- and they are useless without the scribble on the whiteboard. ClemRutter :en:Wikipedia

Oklahoma is not a mnemonic, a mnemonic is when the letters of a word spell out a phrase eg the colours of the rainbow - Richard Of York Gave Battle in Vain - Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Indigo Violet.

Oklahoma here is referring to the line drawn, easiest to see in weak declension between the endings -en and -e. I'm not from the US but apprantly it's shaped like the state of Oklahoma. At our school in the UK they just told us to remember where the line was.

I know the memory-aid as the toothbrush, albeit one with a very short handle. At least everyone who speaks English knows what a toothbrush looks like, not that many know what Oklahoma looks like! Is it possible to insert a black line to make the "toothbrush" clear?


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