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
Anti-discriminatory 
Biography
