Tom thought that the joint petition wasn't a reliable idea since Hagrid could hardly be considered a "popular" professor. Even Grubbly-Plank, who had just arrived today, probably had a better reputation than him. His previous choices of magical creatures were hard to justify, from the Blast-Ended Skrewts to the repulsive Blast-Ended Skrewts...
How could they compare to unicorns?
So even if Harry tried a joint petition, he'd probably only get support from the Gryffindor students. Forget about Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff; they would likely stay on the sidelines.
Listening to Tom's explanation, the gleam in Harry's eyes faded.
"Well," he said disheartened, not knowing where else to seek support for Hagrid. He glanced at the staff table, seeing that the seat that used to belong to Hagrid was now occupied by Grubbly-Plank, which left him feeling empty. And seeing Snape's face in the professor's seat reminded him that he would soon have to undergo Occlumency training. This only worsened his mood.
Tom's response left Harry a bit disappointed. Maybe to avoid noticing Harry's mood, Hermione, sitting next to Tom, tried to comfort him.
"Don't worry, Dumbledore will surely save Hagrid. Nothing they've done to him before has really affected him, and something so baseless won't bring him down. But Hagrid should be more careful, at least not to violate the laws of the Ministry of Magic."
Harry wanted to argue with Hermione, but looking at Tom beside him, he decided to keep his mouth shut. He also realized that what Hermione was saying made sense.
Rita accused Hagrid of using creatures monitored by the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures in his teaching. He remembered that in his first year, Hagrid brought a three-headed dog and a dragon, and in his third year, he brought a hippogriff. And this year, he brought the Blast-Ended Skrewts. If he didn't receive some punishment, Harry didn't want to think about what magical creature he would face in the future.
'Hagrid, you should be more careful,' Harry thought to himself.
At that moment, Tom quietly finished his meal and turned to Hermione. "Hermione, don't you think the Prophet has too much influence?"
The Prophet was the only major newspaper in the British magical world, and its influence was frightening. In the original timeline, thanks to the Prophet's influence, Fudge was able to change Harry and Dumbledore's reputation in a single summer, causing them a lot of trouble.
An article published in the newspaper could easily ruin someone, regardless of whether what it said was true or not.
The newspaper's power was truly terrifying.
Hermione was puzzled by Tom's question, but after careful thought, she was surprised to realize that the Prophet had a monopoly on the media.
It was something that giant Muggle media companies in Europe and America coveted. In the future, giants like Facebook, Twitter, Google, and YouTube would join forces to even censor the President of the United States, and they could create fake news and manipulate the truth at their will. But those giants weren't a single company. The Prophet was the only entity that had so much power in the magical world! Its influence was comparable to the sum of all those media giants.
It was a sharp and dangerous knife.
Hermione frowned and felt uneasy as she asked, "The Prophet... who owns it or which family controls it?"
Before, she had never questioned this matter. She bought a copy of the Prophet for a Knut, but she had never cared about who owned the newspaper. She knew the Prophet's headquarters were in London, just like the Muggle newspapers; it had editors, reporters, and photographers. But who was the owner behind all this?
"It's probably owned by the Ministry of Magic," Tom knew that the Ministry of Magic had a Press Office, which probably managed the Prophet.
Hermione nodded, thinking Tom was right.
She sighed, "Listening to you talk, it does seem like the Prophet has too much power."
"Yes," Harry nodded, "Rita, that old woman, can ruin someone's reputation with just one article..."
"But we're not completely powerless either." Tom suddenly had an idea, "Hermione, when you were at school in London, did they have a school newspaper?"
Harry and Hermione both frowned simultaneously. They searched their memories for a moment and finally remembered that yes, their primary school had a school newspaper. It was published once every semester, and they would give it to the students to take home during the holidays; it usually ended up being used as a coaster or in the trash.
"We could also create something similar, at least we would have influence within Hogwarts, a position of power for opinion. If we don't occupy that position, it will be occupied by hostile forces." Tom served himself a bowl of chicken soup as a final addition to his meal.
Hermione frowned again. She had the feeling that Tom was about to pass the work to someone else.
He proposed an idea and then let others carry it out; that seemed to be Tom's modus operandi.
"But why should we create a school newspaper?" Harry still didn't fully understand. It wasn't his fault; he was just a teenager who had left the non-magical world at eleven to attend Hogwarts.
Tom and Hermione were the strangers in this regard.
Facing Harry's question, Tom patiently explained, "Imagine we have a regular newspaper with scheduled publications. When Rita Skeeter defames Hagrid, wouldn't we have a means to counterattack? Would we continue to be passively beaten like we are now?"
Harry: !!!
"And, looking at it from another angle, wouldn't it be easier to collect signatures for a petition? Because we could make everyone aware of what kind of person Hagrid is."
Harry carefully pondered Tom's proposal and found it made a lot of sense, so he was now drawn to the idea.
Hermione covered her forehead, feeling that Tom had once again persuaded someone else to do the hard work.
Harry didn't notice Hermione's small gesture; all his attention was now on the school newspaper.
"The problem is, I have no experience in making newspapers... And I guess there won't be anyone here at Hogwarts who has that experience either," Harry said after thinking, realizing that as a layman in the world of media, he didn't even know where to start.
When mentioning the experience of making newspapers, Hermione remembered a name.
Wasn't there a Ravenclaw student, a younger classmate, whose family was involved in publishing magazines? Her name was Luna Lovegood, and her family had a magazine called... The Quibbler?
"I think maybe you should get to know a Ravenclaw student," Tom suggested to Harry, "If you want to make a newspaper, she can surely provide a lot of help."