Broadsheet

The broadsheet is the largest of newspaper formats and is characterized by long vertical pages (typically 22 inches or 560 millimetres). The term derives from types of popular prints usually just of a single sheet, sold on the streets and containing various types of material, 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

Many broadsheets measure approximately 29 ¹⁄₂ by 23 ¹⁄₂ inches (749 by 597 mm) per full broadsheet spread, twice the size of a standard tabloid. Australian and New Zealand broadsheets always have a paper size of A1 per spread (841 by 594 mm or 33.1 by 23.4 in). South African broadsheet newspapers have a double-page spread sheet size of 820 by 578 mm or 32.3 by 22.8 in (single-page live print area of 380 x 545 mm). Others measure 22 inches or 560 millimetres vertically.

In the United States, the traditional dimensions for the front page half of a broadsheet are 15 inches (381 mm) wide by 22 ³⁄₄ inches (578 mm) long. However in efforts to save newsprint costs many U.S. newspapers (including the overseas version of The Wall Street Journal^[1]) have downsized to 12 inches (305 mm) wide by 22 ³⁄₄ inches (578 mm) long for a folded page.^[2][3]

Many rate cards and specification cards refer to the "broadsheet size" with dimensions representing the front page "half of a broadsheet" size, rather than the full, unfolded broadsheet spread. Some quote actual page size and others quote the "printed area" size.

The two versions of the broadsheet are:

• Full broadsheet – The full broadsheet typically is folded vertically in half so that it forms four pages (the front page front and back and the back page front and back). The four pages are called a spread. Inside broadsheets are nested accordingly.
• Half broadsheet – The half broadsheet is usually an inside page that is not folded vertically and just includes a front and back.

In uncommon instances, an entire newspaper can be a two-page half broadsheet or four-page full broadsheet. Totally self-contained advertising circulars inserted in a newspaper in the same format are referred to as broadsheets.

Broadsheets typically are also folded horizontally in half to accommodate newsstand display space. The horizontal fold however does not affect the page numbers and the content remains vertical. The most important newspaper stories are placed "above the (horizontal) fold." This contrasts with tabloids which typically do not have a horizontal fold (although tabloids usually have the four page to a sheet spread format).

The broadsheet has since emerged as the most popular format for the dissemination of printed news. The world's most widely circulated English-language daily broadsheet is The Times of India, a leading English-language daily newspaper from India, followed closely by The New York Times from the United States, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

History

Historically, broadsheets developed after the British in 1712 placed a tax on newspapers based on the number of their pages. Larger formats, however, had long been signs of status in printed objects, and still are in many places, and outside Britain the broadsheet developed for other reasons, including style and authority, unrelated to the British tax structure.

The original purpose of the broadsheet, or broadside, was for the purpose of posting royal proclamations, acts, and official notices. Eventually the people began using the broadsheet as a source for political activism by reprinting speeches, ballads or narrative songs originally performed by bards. With the early mechanization of the 19th century came an increase in production of printed materials including the broadside as well as the competing penny dreadful. In this period newspapers all over Europe began to print their issues on broadsheets. However, in the United Kingdom, the main competition for the broadside was the gradual reduction of the newspaper tax, beginning in the 1830s, and eventually its dismissal in 1855.^[4]

With the increased production of newspapers and literacy, the demand for visual reporting and journalists led to the blending of broadsides and newspapers, creating the modern broadsheet newspaper.

Printing considerations

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 front page 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 12-inch wide frontpage was printed on 48-inch web newsprint. Early adopters in the downsizing of broadsheets initially used a 50-inch web (12 ¹⁄₂-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 (13 ¹⁄₂-inch front page). However, the paper adopted the narrower format beginning Monday, 6 August 2007.

The smaller newspapers also have the advantage of being easier to handle, particularly among commuters.

Connotations

In some countries, especially Australia, Canada, the UK, and the US, 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.

On the other hand, a few newspapers, such as the German Bild-Zeitung and others throughout central Europe are unashamedly tabloid in content, but use the physical broadsheet format.

United Kingdom broadsheets

In the United Kingdom, two major daily broadsheets are distributed nationwide, and two on Sundays:

• The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph – broadly right-wing
• Financial Times
• The Sunday Times – broadly centre-right

As of April 2011, the average circulation of The Times was around 450,000, The Daily Telegraph 640,000 copies daily, and the Financial Times around 372,000, while the circulations of The Guardian and The Independent, both of them previously published in broadsheet format, were 264,000 and 181,000, respectively.^[5]

The Herald and The Press and Journal are Scottish broadsheets, though the latter is not a true national newspaper as it is primarily distributed in North East Scotland.

Switch to smaller sizes

In the United Kingdom

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 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 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".

In the United States

In the United States, The Wall Street Journal made headlines when it announced its overseas version would convert to a tabloid on 17 October 2005.^[6] There is strong debate in the U.S. on whether or not the rest of the national papers will, or even should, follow the trend of the British papers and The Wall Street Journal.^[7] Currently, the Chicago Sun-Times is printed as compact.

Notable broadsheets

This is an incomplete list that may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.

Argentina

Australia

Bangladesh

Most Bangladeshi daily newspapers are broadsheets.

Brazil

Most Brazilian newspapers are broadsheets, including the three most important:

Canada

Almost all of Canada's major daily newspapers are broadsheets.^[8] Newspapers are in English, unless stated otherwise.

National

Atlantic Canada

Quebec

Ontario

Western Canada

Colombia

• El Tiempo
• El Espectador
• El Colombiano
• El Pais

Chile

• El Mercurio
• El Sur

China

• China Daily

Denmark

Dominican Republic

Ecuador

Finland

France

Germany

Greece

• Kathimerini
• Estia

Hong Kong

Hungary

India

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

Indonesia

Ireland

Israel

Italy

Japan

Lebanon

• An-Nahar

Libya

Malaysia

Newspapers such as New Straits Times and Berita Harian was used to be published in broadsheet, but was published in smaller size instead, from 2005 and 2008, respectively. However, almost all Chinese newspaper in the country continues to published in broadsheet.

Mauritius

Mexico

New Zealand

Pakistan

All Pakistan regional and national newspapers are broadsheets. Pakistan Today is the first and only paper in Berliner format.

Panama

Peru

Philippines

• Bulgar

Poland

All of Poland's quality national dailies (Gazeta Wyborcza, Rzeczpospolita, Nasz Dziennik, and Dziennik Polska-Europa-Świat) are now published in compact format.

Portugal

• Expresso, Lisboa^[10]

Puerto Rico

• El Mundo

Romania

Russia

Singapore

• The Straits Times

Sri Lanka

• The Sunday Leader

South Africa

Spain

All newspapers in Spain are printed in compact format.

Sweden

The first major Swedish newspaper to leave the broadsheet format and start printing in tabloid format was Svenska Dagbladet, on November 16, 2000. As of August 2004, there were 26 broadsheet newspapers in total, with a combined circulation of 1,577,700 and 50 newspapers in tabloid with a combined circulation of 1,129,400. On October 5, 2004, the morning newspapers Göteborgs-Posten, Dagens Nyheter, Sydsvenskan and Östersunds-Posten all switched to tabloid, thus making it the leading format for morning newspapers in Sweden by volume of circulation. Most other broadsheet newspapers have followed since.^[11]

Thailand

• Thairath (Thai: ไทยรัฐ)
• The Bangkok Post

Turkey

Most of the newspapers in Turkey are printed on this format. Notable ones include:

Ukraine

• Dzerkalo Tyzhnia

United Arab Emirates

• Gulf News

United Kingdom

UK wide

England

• Yorkshire Post

Scotland

United States

Almost all major papers in the United States are broadsheets.

Vatican City

• L'Osservatore Romano

See also

References