Full Description
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.
Contents
Contents
Acknowledgments
1. Shock! Horror! Scandal! The Tabloid Controversy and Journalism Studies in Post-Apartheid South Africa
2. Attack of the Killer Newspapers! Tabloids Arrive in South Africa
3. Black and White and Read All Over: Tabloids and the Glocalization of Popular Media
4. Not Really Newspapers: Tabloids and the South African Journalistic Paradigm
5. The Revolution Will Be Printed: Tabloids, Citizenship, and Democratic Politics in Post-Apartheid South Africa
6. Truth or Trash? Understanding Tabloid Journalism and Lived Experience
7. Often They Cry with the People: The Professional Identities of Tabloid Journalists
8. Conclusion: Telling Stories
Notes
References
Index
