What was I supposed to say?’” (GoF 147-148) Weasley in exasperation, handing the paper to Percy. But ironically, the facts do not match up with his recollection. This bit of Rita’s writing is actually given credence by the Weasleys when Arthur assumes that it’s about him. Here we have a curiosity, as pointed out to me by Sophia Jenkins. A Ministry official emerged some time after the appearance of the Dark Mark alleging that nobody had been hurt, but refusing to give any more information. If the terrified wizards and witches who waited breathlessly for news at the edge of the wood expected reassurance from the Ministry of Magic, they were sadly disappointed. (For more on the numbers at work here, please see my editorial “Death Eaters – Part 2: Voldemort’s Resurrection.”) The rest of the claims are true: The Ministry does commit blunders here, the culprits are not apprehended (since they’re all partying in a graveyard ten months later), and the Dark wizards are running unchecked.Įven calling it a “national disgrace” isn’t inaccurate: The Pottermore article on the history of the Quidditch World Cup calls this event “possibly the most infamous World Cup Final of the last few centuries.” Moreover, “the ICWQC censured the Ministry of Magic heavily after the event, judging that security arrangements had been inadequate given the known existence of a violent pure-blood tendency in the United Kingdom.” While the question of whether the security is lax is open to interpretation, one could certainly make that argument, especially since there are at most 30-ish Death Eaters causing all this havoc. Ministry blunders … culprits not apprehended … lax security … Dark wizards running unchecked … national disgrace … In fairness to Rita, her first article (about the fiasco at the World Cup) does not seem to contain any falsehoods, though it leans rather heavily on opinion and criticism. ![]() One book later, we wish there were a reporter who’d speak truth to the power of the Ministry, rather than toting their water unquestioningly. This is before we realize the extent of the corruption in the Ministry. We are introduced to Rita’s writing even before we meet her, when Percy furiously accuses, “That woman’s got it in for the Ministry of Magic!” (GoF 147). Scenes of Terror at the Quidditch World Cup And in what should be absolutely no surprise, there are exactly seven pieces of Rita’s writing we are privy to throughout the books. Note that we’ll only go into the texts that are available to the reader since we cannot make judgment calls about Rita’s articles that are only referred to in the books. ![]() So I thought it worthwhile to consider all of Rita’s articles, to see what truth is buried underneath all the slander. But Jo intentionally included Rita in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire to impart information to Harry and the reader, not just to serve as satire, so I think it’s incorrect to dismiss all of her material. I stumble across the dilemma quite frequently: How much of the information given to us in Rita’s articles can be considered factual, and how much of it can be dismissed out of hand? Fans tend to veer toward the latter: On the podcast Alohomora!, I often encounter the argument that evidence from Rita’s quill is inadmissible. But here’s the thing: One cannot just dismiss everything Rita writes, because there are always kernels of truth buried in there. That concept is personified in Rita Skeeter, Jo’s oddly prescient satire of unscrupulous journalism. It’s a problem all too familiar to us in the Muggle world: You can’t trust everything you read in the news.
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