"Hugely important for students, journalists, scholars, policy makers, and practitioners. Will contribute, both empirically and theoretically, to ongoing debates about popular culture, media globalization, and changing news discourses."---Winston Mano, University of Westminster<BR><BR>"A much needed media history and political and social assessment of a genre that is currently very much the subject of conjecture."---Sean Jacobs, University of Michigan<BR><BR>"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<BR><BR>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.