Previous

“Well, they’re writing about you as though you’re this deluded, attention-seeking person who thinks he’s a great tragic hero or something,” said Hermione, very fast, as though it would be less unpleasant for Harry to hear these facts quickly.

Although Harry has been receiving and reading the Daily Prophet all summer, he has not been reading the paper very thoroughly, only poring over the headlines in order to see if Voldemort has struck again. Consequently, Harry is shocked and upset to learn that the Prophet has been subtly painting him as a fool for months. As Hermione points out in Chapter 4, the Daily Prophet has been remarkably sneaky in the presentation of its snide remarks about Harry, trying to portray both Harry and Dumbledore as fools, but without ever explicitly writing anything negative about their convictions. Umbridge and Fudge both admit that the Daily Prophet has long been under the control of the Ministry of Magic, who are wrongly convinced that Lord Voldemort has not returned to power—therefore, it is no surprise that the Prophet has been so resolute in its slander of Harry. For most Wizards, the Daily Prophet is the sole source of Wizarding news and the only publication, aside from the much-discredited Quibbler, that Rowling mentions in the novels. The paper’s disingenuous and obvious agenda speaks volumes, and the Prophet serves as a metaphor for the corrupt media services that continue to operate around the world right now.

Previous section Important Quotes Explained Page 4

Popular pages: Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix

Take a Study Break