A social history of a popularization process of major importance for a national press structure forms the basis of this article. Today's largest circulation newspaper in Norway is the case in point. Vardens Gang (now known under the acronym VG) grew out of the resistance movement during the Second World War, and set out with the ambition of being `a new kind of newspaper'. However, economic problems soon fuelled a popularization process, and gradually the ground was cleared for a sensational growth in circulation numbers. What happened to the original ideals, and to the new kind of newspaper? Answers are indicated by focusing on changes in the newspaper's modes of addressing its readers and their everyday roles, and by paying particular attention to a `service and campaign journalism' and to a certain kind of `newspaper schizophrenia'. On this basis, the author warns against a crude essentialism in the understanding of popular journalism.