Science and Scandal in South Africa: Introduction

"...'Nkandlagate', 'fracking', 'Virodene', 'poo protests' - there's nothing like a scandal to ignite the imagination of the South African public. The fact that the Daily Sun, a tabloid newspaper, has roughly triple the readership of the second-largest daily reveals the depth of public desire for salacious news. The popularity of tabloids is a global phenomenon, but the astonishing market lead of the Daily Sun suggests that the South African public has a sizeable appetite for scandal. With headlines that combine shock and titillation with colloquial humour, scandal is one of the principal semiotic currencies in which tabloid journalism trades. But what precisely is a scandal? How do scandals differ from other social problems replete with rumours and allegations, in which clashing knowledge claims vie for public, intellectual and political authority? How do they garner such strong, conflicting responses from different actors? Why do they unfold in particular moments, and what does this reveal about the social, political and structural conditions that surround and enable them?..."