ATTACK OF THE KILLER NEWSPAPERS!

Abstract

While newspapers in the global North seem to be involved in a struggle for survival, the inverse seems to be happening in South Africa. Since their introduction almost a decade after South Africa became a democracy, a range of new tabloid papers have taken the country by storm. The Daily Sun is now the biggest selling daily newspaper in the country, showing a constant increase since its launch five years ago. The publisher claims that there is even a second-hand market for copies; such is the demand for the paper among those that can barely afford it. Similar success stories are told about the spate of tabloids following in the Daily Sun's wake—Kaapse Son, Cape Sun and Daily Voice. These tabloids speak to a section of the South African public that remain largely out of focus in the mainstream commercial media outlets which, despite far-reaching changes in ownership structures and editorial changes to bring about racial transformation in the media industry after apartheid, are still beholden to those sections of the public conventionally thought to be favoured by advertisers.

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