A Generation Poisoned

I resisted the lure of Harry Potter for as long as I could, until late 2005, after the sixth book came out. Then my youngest brother, William, who was 15, persuaded me to crack open the first one. I was hooked almost immediately. I read all six books within the next couple of months, and now I'm nearly through the seventh. I suspect there are others like me in Gangrey Nation.

We can learn a lot about storytelling from the Potter series, but that's not what I want to talk about today. I want to talk about how depicts journalism.

In general, J.K Rowling seems to hate the press. The main newspaper in her fantasy world, The Daily Prophet, is frequently ignorant of key events, controlled by evil government officials, or flat-out wrong. Rita Skeeter, the newspaper writer, is a bona fide villain. She's not just inaccurate – she's maliciously inaccurate. She has a magical device called a Quick-Quotes Quill or something that seems borrowed from Jayson Blair. She is all the bad in all of us, and none of the good.

Now. About sixty-four gajillion children around the world have read these books. For many of them, this is their introduction to the world of journalism.

Small wonder nobody reads us anymore. A whole generation sees us as Harry Potter's enemies.

Discuss.