This article is about the newspaper format. For the Irish current affairs programme, see Broadsheet (Irish TV series).
Broadsheet is the largest of the various newspaper formats and is characterized by long vertical pages (typically 22 inches or more). The term derives from types of popular prints usually just of a single sheet, sold on the streets and containing various types of matter, from ballads to political satire. The first broadsheet newspaper was the Dutch Courante uyt Italien, Duytslandt, &c. published in 1618.
Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner and Tabloid/Compact formats.

Description
Modern printing facilities most efficiently print broadsheet sections in multiples of eight pages (with four front pages and four back pages). The broadsheet is then cut in half during the process. Thus the newsprint rolls used are defined by the width necessary to print four front pages. The width of a newsprint roll is called its web. Thus the new 12 inch wide frontpage broadsheet newspapers in the United States use a 48-inch web newsprint roll.
With profit margins narrowing for newspapers in the wake of competition from broadcast, cable television, and the internet, newspapers are looking to standardize the size of the newsprint roll. The Wall Street Journal with its 15-inch wide frontpage was printed on 60-inch web newsprint. Early adopters in the downsizing of broadsheets initially used a 50-inch web (12½ inch front pages). However the 48-inch web is now rapidly becoming the definitive standard in the U.S. The New York Times held out on the downsizing until July 2006, saying it would stick to its 54-inch web (13½ inch front page). However, the paper adopted the narrower format beginning Monday, August 6, 2007.
The smaller newspapers also have the advantage of being easier to handle particularly among commuters.

Printing considerations
In some countries, especially the UK and USA, broadsheet newspapers are commonly perceived to be more intellectual in content than their tabloid counterparts, using their greater size to examine stories in more depth, while carrying less sensationalist and celebrity material. This distinction is most obvious on the front page: whereas tabloids tend to have a single story dominated by a headline, broadsheets allow two or more stories to be displayed, the most important at the top of the page - "above the fold." In other countries, such as Spain, a small format is the universal for newspapers - a popular, sensational press has had difficulty taking root - and the tabloid size has no such connotations.
Thus, the distinction regarding specific content is at best a generalization, and the term "tabloid" technically refers only to the paper's size. Serious newspapers in tabloid format, "El País" in Spain and others in Italy, do not make the distinction. Some tabloid-format papers (such as the Daily Mail and Daily Express in the UK) use phrases such as "broadsheet quality in a tabloid format" in an attempt to distinguish themselves from their "tabloid" reputation. In addition, broadsheets often publish supplements, such as sports reviews and less news-oriented content (e.g. the Guardian's "G2" (formerly) or the Times's "Times 2"), in tabloid format.
On the other hand, a few newspapers, such as the German Bild-Zeitung and others throughout central Europe are unashamedly tabloid in content, but still use the physical broadsheet format.

Connotations
In the UK, one major daily broadsheet is distributed nationwide, and two on a Sunday:
Other prominent UK broadsheets include The Herald and The Press and Journal, which are not true national newspapers, as they are mostly distributed in Scotland. The Financial Times is also printed and sold in other countries; as the British equivalent of the Wall Street Journal, it lends its most detailed attention to financial news. These UK broadsheet have been used for Millwall bricks.
The average circulation of the Times is around 656,000 and the Telegraph sells 908,000 copies daily, while the circulations of the Guardian and Independent, both of them previously published in broadsheet format, are approximately 380,000 and 240,000. The Financial Times sells over 440,000 copies, the Scotsman approximately 70,000 (all figures July 2006).

The Daily Telegraph/Sunday Telegraph; broadly right-wing
The Sunday Times ("The Times" is now a tabloid / compact); both are broadly centre-right UK broadsheets
In 2003 The Independent started concurrent production of both broadsheet and tabloid ("compact") editions, carrying exactly the same content. The Times did likewise, but with less apparent success, with readers vocally opposing the change. The daily Independent ceased to be available in broadsheet format in May 2004, and The Times followed suit from November 2004; The Scotsman is also now published only in tabloid format. The Guardian switched to the "Berliner" or "midi" format found in some other European countries (slightly larger than a traditional tabloid) on 12 September 2005. The Courier-Mail, the only daily newspaper in Brisbane, Australia, also changed from broadsheet to tabloid format on March 13, 2006. The only Malaysian broadsheet, New Straits Times, also changed to tabloid in March 2005.
The main motivation cited for this shift is that commuters prefer papers which they can hold easily on public transport, and it is presumably hoped that other readers will also find the smaller formats more convenient. It remains to be seen how this shake-up will affect the usage of the term "broadsheet". Notably, the Daily Telegraph increased its lead in circulation over the The Times when the latter switched to compact size - this is attributed to the backlash of traditional broadsheet readers.

Switch to smaller sizes

Notable broadsheets

La Nación, the only broadsheet in the country Argentina

The Age, Melbourne (a planned move away from the broadsheet format was announced on 26 April 2007)[1]
The Australian, a national newspaper
The Canberra Times
The Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney (a planned move away from the broadsheet format was announced on 26 April 2007)[2]
Sunraysia Daily Australia
Almost all Brazilian newspapers are broadsheets, including major publications like:

O Globo, Rio de Janeiro
Jornal do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro (subscribers' edition-only since April 16, 2006, when the newsstand edition switched to Berliner)
Folha de S. Paulo, São Paulo
O Estado de São Paulo, São Paulo Brazil

The Globe and Mail
The National Post
Toronto Star
The Gazette, Montreal
La Presse, Montreal
Le Devoir, Montreal
The Ottawa Citizen, Ottawa
Winnipeg Free Press, Winnipeg
Halifax Chronicle-Herald
The Telegram, St. John's
The Edmonton Journal, Edmonton
The Calgary Herald, Calgary
The Vancouver Sun, Vancouver Canada

El Mercurio Chile

Jyllands-Posten
Politiken Denmark

Listín Diario
Hoy
La Información, Santiago de los Caballeros Dominican Republic

Helsingin Sanomat
Aamulehti
Turun Sanomat
Kaleva Finland

Die Zeit
Die Welt
Süddeutsche Zeitung
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Germany

Kathimerini Greece
Almost all major newspapers in India are broadsheets. Tabloids are mostly found in small circulation local or rural papers.

The DNA
Deccan Herald
The Hindu
The Hindustan Times
The Indian Express
The Statesman
The Telegraph
The Times of India India

The Irish Times
The Irish Examiner
The Irish Independent Ireland

Haaretz
The Jerusalem Post Israel

La Stampa, Turin
Corriere della Sera, Milan Italy

de Volkskrant
NRC Handelsblad The Netherlands

The New Zealand Herald, Auckland
The Waikato Times, Hamilton
The Dominion Post, Wellington
The Press, Christchurch
The Otago Daily Times, Dunedin
The Taranaki Daily News, New Plymouth New Zealand

The News International
Daily Mail (Pakistan)
Dawn (newspaper)
The Star (Pakistan) Pakistan

El Comercio, Lima Peru

Philippine Daily Inquirer
The Philippine Star
Manila Bulletin
The Manila Times
The Daily Tribune (The most controversial Broadsheet, because of carrying more Anti-Arroyo Stories.) Philippines

Gazeta Wyborcza
Rzeczpospolita (newspaper)
Dziennik Poland

Expresso, Lisboa Portugal

Izvestia United Kingdom
Almost all major U.S. newspapers are broadsheets, including major publications like:

The Boston Globe
The Chicago Tribune
Houston Chronicle
Los Angeles Times
The New York Times
The Philadelphia Inquirer
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
USA Today
The Wall Street Journal
The Washington Post
The Kansas City Star
The Minneapolis Star Tribune
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette