I have loved the Harry Potter series since I was in second grade. I’m always amazed how much detail is woven through the stories, particularly in how you can connect that detail to the real world.

The journalistic practices of the Wizarding World are particularly intriguing to me. In Harry’s time, there were very few sources for news. Had there been electronic communication and the breadth of information afforded to our generation, a great amount of miscommunication could have been avoided in the series, such as Mrs. Weasley believing the worst of Hermione without actually speaking to her.

Given that fact, one would hope that the sole source of news for many witches and wizards would be a reliable and stalwart example of good journalism. To the contrary, many practices carried out by The Daily Prophet would be enormously taboo if exposed in a current-day newspaper.

Let me say I’m a bit of a purist when it comes to Harry Potter. There might be contradictory information from other sources such as Pottermore or the movies, but I prefer to stick only to the books.

That being said, here are the most glaring problems I see with the Wizarding World’s primary source of news:

Bad reporting

Reporter Rita Skeeter is not a particularly likable character. Indeed, the fourth Harry Potter book makes it abundantly clear that her motivations lie in selling her stories more than seeking the truth. However, there are many highly questionable aspects of her reporting.

First, Skeeter discloses personal details and the names of Harry and his friends without their consent. Harry, Hermione, Hagrid and others discredited by the stories never consented to be in an article, a major faux pas of reporting. Harry might be considered a public figure once he joined the Triwizard Tournament, but Hermione and Hagrid shouldn’t have been portrayed in the newspapers as they were. Personal details of their lives were not presented fairly and were not public property.

Skeeter had no right to disclose a personal conversation Hagrid had about his parentage, and certainly no right to use it to discredit him. This libel was severe enough that Hagrid was literally sent death threats.

Skeeter caused harm through her reporting, seeking shock instead of truth. The damages are serious breaches of moral code and ethical conduct for a newswriter.

The second problem with Rita’s writing is her tendency to use unknown sources. This is prominently featured in the article attempting to discredit Harry and cast him as unbalanced. She uses a source that is not named, a healer from the magical hospital who claims that they would be very worried about someone who can speak Parseltongue.

The problem is that there is a very good reason we writers name our sources. For a claim as serious as this one, there should be no reason to blindly believe a faceless expert. There’s no way for the reader to know if Rita just made it up. However, few people question what an authority figure says so the story gains undeserved legitimacy.

It’s the responsibility of a reporter to avoid misleading readers, a principle blatantly disregarded by Skeeter. Given that we know the anti-Harry sentiment continued after she left, she was not the only objectionable reporter employed by the news entity. The Wizarding World should be concerned at how low quality its news reporting is.

Sole source of news?

As mentioned, The Daily Prophet is the main entity that distributes news. One might argue that it is not the exclusive source, and there are merits to that argument worth considering. After all, the story in Harry’s fourth year about his and Hermione’s supposed love story was actually published in a magazine called “Witch Weekly.”

And it would not do to forget the memorable experiences Harry had with The Quibbler, which, while it seems to be the source of most wizarding conspiracy theories, eventually gives Harry a medium to speak the truth about Voldemort’s return.

However, these sources do not provide consistent reporting on news sources to contrast the opinions put forth by The Daily Prophet. The “Witch Weekly” magazine mostly appears to be some sort of gossip tabloid, certainly not a reliable source for news. And The Quibbler actually provides further evidence to the idea that there are at least no other news sources that vary from The Daily Prophet.

After all, Hermione vehemently says this eccentric publication is “utter rubbish.” If there had been literally anywhere else to turn that had a chance of presenting Harry’s story in a more positive light, that publication would have taken precedence.

The free market of ideas is vital to a government and society that value freedom. The age of information that we enjoy today is facilitated by the ability to find a second opinion — to corroborate facts and cut through hyperbole to understand news more objectively. This shifts some responsibility to be accurately informed from being exclusively left to a single entity to individuals. This is an important shift if we don’t want to be deceived.

For the Wizarding World, individuals rely upon a single source to be well informed, leaving them vulnerable to manipulation, as is done multiple times throughout the stories.

Government influence

Finally, the Wizarding World has a serious issue with the separation of press and government. News purveyors have proven to be invaluable boons to democracy and fighting corruption within the United States. The example that comes to mind is the Washington Post releasing the classified documents that revealed the United States knew it was going to lose the Vietnam War years before Americans stopped fighting it. The press revealed the corruption, allowing the people to hold the government responsible for its wrongs.

At its best, the press is able to keep governments in line. In the Wizarding World, it’s clear the government has significant capacity to influence the press. At various points in the series, the characters are aware that the Minister of Magic (Cornelius Fudge) is directly influencing and censoring what the press prints. Whenever something even remotely embarrassing happens, it’s unlikely to reach the source of news.

This censorship is frankly quite dangerous. Many totalitarian societies begin with controlling the information. If you can only allow people the information you want them to have, then, to a large extent, you can control how they think.

This is compounded by the other factors mentioned — poor reporting and only one source of available news. We see the vices of this system within the events of the book itself as, following Voldemort’s rise to power, the press is manipulated to imply that Harry may have killed Dumbledore. A single source of news, controlled by corruption, leads to captivity, which is likely why Luna’s father is threatened so fiercely when he tried to print an opposing view. After all, tyranny thrives in the darkness of censorship and ignorance.

In viewing these issues of the press in a beloved story, one might be annoyed at my perceived nitpicking. After all, do we really need a story about magical wars to have a good system of journalism? It seems absurd to even expect it.

But I enjoy analyzing these details because this imperfect world creates a perfectly fascinating story and set of problems for Harry to face. And above that, it makes me appreciate the qualities of the real world.

No, the real world of journalism is not perfect — the decline of those subscribing to newspapers has led to a level of competition that, unfortunately, favors highly inflammatory headlines and polarized rhetoric. But there are still publications that value good journalism in this climate, and as we make the effort to discover the truth, we do not face a single news publication that monopolizes information and is heavily controlled by a corrupt government.

The truth can still be found for those who are willing to do the work to find it.

Sierra Clark is a recent graduate of Venture High School. She plays piano and flute and is an avid reader. Email her at s.siclark@venturelearning.org.