Berliner, or "midi", is a newspaper format with pages normally measuring about 470 × 315 mm (18.5 × 12.4 in). The Berliner format is slightly taller and marginally wider than the tabloid/compact format; and is both narrower and shorter than the broadsheet format.[1]
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The Berliner format is used by many European newspapers, including dailies such as Le Monde in France, Le Temps in Switzerland, La Repubblica and La Stampa in Italy, El Pais and El Mundo in Spain, De Morgen, Le Soir and Het Laatste Nieuws in Belgium, and (since 12 September 2005) The Guardian in the United Kingdom, and others such as Expresso in Portugal. The French financial newspaper Les Échos changed to this format in September 2003, and the largest daily papers in Croatia (Večernji list), Serbia (Politika) and Montenegro (Vijesti), are also in this format. The most recent European newspaper to join this trend is Le Soir, Belgium's main French-language newspaper (15 November 2005). Student publication The University Observer became Ireland's first Berliner-sized paper in September 2009.
The name refers to the city of Berlin, and was originally contrasted with "North German" and "French" sizes in the early 20th century. Although the daily Berliner Zeitung is occasionally called simply Berliner, it is not printed in Berliner format. In fact, only two German national dailies use Berliner format: Die Tageszeitung (generally known as the "taz"); and the Junge Welt, which in 2004 abandoned the unique slightly-larger-than-A4 size that had distinguished it since the early 1990s. The majority of the national quality dailies use the larger broadsheet format known as "nordisch", measuring 570 × 400 mm (22.44 × 15.75 in).
The daily Journal and Courier in Lafayette, Indiana, began using Berliner format for its daily edition on 31 July 2006. It was the first newspaper in North America to be produced in this format.[2]
Since then, numerous broadsheet newspapers throughout the United States have adopted a page format similar to Berliner, though some may use a taller page. In some instances, only the width has changed from the typical broadsheet page, and the height has remained the same or close to it. For example, The New York Times used a typical 22-inch (559 mm) tall by 15-inch (381 mm) wide page, but in 2007 downsized to 22 by 12 in (559 by 305 mm). It still refers to itself as a broadsheet, even though its size is closer to Berliner.
The business daily Mint, a collaboration with the Indian media house Hindustan Times Media Limited (HTML) and The Wall Street Journal, is the latest to be launched in the Berliner format on 1 February 2007.
In Pakistan, English daily Pakistan Today is the only newspaper in any language to be published in the Berliner format.
Also, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz is published in this format (18 February 2007).
Though very rarely used in the Metropolitan Manila, the Berliner is the most popular format in the Philippines. In the Ilocandia, some of the well-known names are the Zigzag Weekly, the Northern Dispatch—commonly called as Nordis—and the Northern Philippine Times.
In the Visayas, the Panay News (Visayas’ most widely circulated newspaper) also uses this format.
Though not published for commercial purposes, the official publication of the Caritas Manila, uses a slightly narrower Berliner format.
In March 2009, South Korea's JoongAng Ilbo adopted the Berliner format, becoming the first Korean newspaper to do so.
Also in the same month, Turkey's Gazete Habertürk adopted a variation of this format as 350 by 500 mm (13.78 by 19.69 in) and became the first Turkish newspaper to do so. The format is called as Ciner Format because it is unique.
Jornal do Brasil, a daily Brazilian newspaper founded in 1891, was published in Berliner from 16 April 2006 until 31 August 2010, when the newspaper ceased to publish its physical issue and transferred all activities to the internet. Initially, only the newsstand edition was in that format, but its success made the format switch extend later to the subscriber's edition, which until then remained in broadsheet format.
In 2008, Salvador-based Correio* (formerly Correio da Bahia) switched to Berliner, also from broadsheet.
In February 2010, Mauritius's century-old Le Mauricien adopted the Berliner format with full-colour content and becomes the first evening national paper in the country to adopt this format.