COM 2006 Volume 11

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Open Access
In search of the Daily Sun's recipe for success
(Department of Communication Science, University of the Free State, 2006) Froneman, J. D.
One of the most significant media events of the past decade has been the founding of the Daily Sun, a tabloid aimed at the low-income black market. This newspaper has become the nation's best-selling daily within a year. Through a qualitative analysis of the newspaper, it was found that it concentrates on soccer, sex, horror, personal tragedies and traditional African beliefs (including witchcraft). However, the Daily Sun is not a tabloid in the British Sun tradition: it does not publish pin-up pictures of girls or celebrity scandals. It also carries substantial news and columns which can be described as self-help or “developmental”. The Daily Sun has thus, to some extent, adapted the tabloid genre, which in the past has been equated with one-dimensional scandal journalism. It is argued that although aspects of the Daily Sun may not live up to the ethical expectations of traditional Western journalism, its success in reaching a new market of readers who did not read a newspaper previously must be acknowledged. As such it has created a new public sphere where a section of the population has found a place where some exchange of information and views can take place.