canon!Skeeter was a tool of Fudge. Thus, if Fudge was a tool of Malfoy, then Skeeter was a tool of Malfoy. But I'm not convinced that Fudge knew that he was a Malfoy tool. Certainly, his reactions amount to "doing worse than Neville Chamberlain when confronting an evil tyrant," which was a very advantageous position for the Ministry of Magic to take, from Malfoy's point of view.
Nonetheless, my impression from canon was that Fudge's "la-la-la I'm not listening strategy" was a happy accident from Malfoy's point of view, not a planned strategy. And if Fudge was not conspiring with Malfoy, then it seems reasonable that Skeeter (a knowing lackey of Fudge) would not think she was one of Malfoy's tools.
Of course, a substantial amount of this impression is based on my belief that Rowling was a terrible world-builder and that the canon Potterverse contained essentially zero competent plotters. For example, Chamber of Secrets is an unintended consequence of Malfoy's petty act against a bureaucratic rival. Voldemort received no benefit from Malfoy's acts, and Malfoy should have know that. Heck, Malfoy himself received no benefit, and didn't even seem to expect one. In short, he shouldn't have used a powerful Voldemort artifact the way he did.
Edit: None of this should be read as disagreeing with the view that Skeeter knew that a natural consequence of her work was destroying people's lives and this didn't bother her one bit.
That's the impression of the characters in book 5, but the end of book 4 pretty clearly shows that Fudge's impressions of Harry were guided by Skeeter, not the other way around.
..."You are prepared to believe that Lord Voldemort has returned, on the word of a lunatic murderer, and a boy who… well…"
Fudge shot Harry another look, and Harry suddenly understood.
"You've been reading Rita Skeeter, Mr. Fudge," he said quietly.
...
Fudge reddened slightly, but a defiant and obstinate look came over his face.
"And if I have?" he said, look
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This is a new thread to discuss Eliezer Yudkowsky’s Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality and anything related to it. This thread is intended for discussing chapter 85. The previous thread has long passed 500 comments. Comment in the 15th thread until you read chapter 85.
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