Less than a decade after the advent of democracy in South Africa, tabloid newspapers have taken the country by storm. One of these papers—the Daily Sun—is now the largest in the country, but it has generated controversy for its perceived lack of respect for privacy, brazen sexual content, and unrestrained truth-stretching. Herman Wasserman examines the success of tabloid journalism in South Africa at a time when global print media are in decline. He considers the social significance of the tabloids and how they play a role in integrating readers and their daily struggles with the political and social sphere of the new democracy. Wasserman shows how these papers have found an important niche in popular and civic culture largely ignored by the mainstream media and formal political channels.

Students, researchers and practitioners in the area of media and communication studies and journalism.

Herman Wasserman is Professor of Journalism and Media/Cultural Studies at Rhodes University, Grahamstown and Honorary Senior Lecturer in Journalism Studies at the University of Sheffield, UK.  Other books include the edited volume Popular Media, Democracy and Development in Africa (Routledge) and co-edited collection Media Ethics Beyond Borders (Routledge). He also edits the academic journal Ecquid Novi: African Journalism Studies.

"Hugely important for students, journalists, scholars, policy-makers, and practitioners. A much needed book that will contribute, both empirically and theoretically, to ongoing debates about popular culture, media globalization, and changing news discourses." —Winston Mano, University of Westminster

 

"A much needed media history and political and social assessment of a genre that is currently very much the subject of conjecture." —Sean Jacobs, The New School

 

"Convincing, bold, and provocative. The rise of mass circulating tabloids and their popularity with the poor and working class black majority are indicative of a post-apartheid South Africa determined to renegotiate an ethics of inclusion and a common humanity in journalism." —Francis B. Nyamnjoh, University of Cape Town