For much of the twentieth century New Zealand Truth was this country's most popular newspaper, and by the mid-1950s claimed a readership of half a million people. Not surprisingly Truth gained a position of considerable influence within New Zealand. This highly readable history tells the story of how the newspaper began in 1905, steadily rose to a position of considerable prominence, before steadily losing its relevance after the social upheavals of the 1960s, and then finally petering out in 2005. Redmer Yska argues that Truth was the first modern newspaper in New Zealand, the vanguard for 'new journalism' that has so heavily shaped our modern media. New journalism produced popular papers that were aimed at working people and described as 'brightly written, easily read newspapers, small in size but big in heart, with closely edited news, human-interest features, fearless news coverage and local crusades and hard-fighting independent editorial opinion.' While Truth is best remembered for its core diet of sex, crime, reactionary politics and all-round muck-raking, it's history is more complex than that, and it had a central, often over-looked role as an important champion of working people and their causes. Truth's scandal-ridden history has never before been told. This book not only documents an important part of New Zealand's media history, but also gives us a fascinating and colourful window on this country's social history.

Author Biography

Redmer Yska has worked in journalism and communications for his entire career, including a stint as a reporter at New Zealand Truth in the 1970s. Since then he has worked as a media and communications consultant, a Parliamentary press secretary, a ministerial speechwriter, and a historian. In 2007 he was awarded a National Library Research Fellow to research and write this book. His previous publications include Wellington: biography of a city, All Shook Up: The flash bodgie and the rise of the NZ teenager in 1950s, and NZ Green: The story of marijuana in New Zealand.