Broadsheet

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Broadsheet is a size and format for newspapers, and a descriptive term applied to papers which use that format rather than the smaller tabloid format. Historically, broadsheets were developed when in 1712 a tax was placed on British newspapers based on the number of their pages.

Broadsheet newspapers tend to be more intellectual in content than their tabloid counterparts, examining stories in more depth and carrying sensationalist celebrity stories less often. However, while this distinction is widely used, some tabloid papers (particularly Daily Mail and The Daily Express) point out that the term "tabloid" strictly refers only to the paper size, and often use phrases such as "broadsheet quality in a tabloid format".

In the UK, four major daily broadsheets are distributed nationwide, two generally on the right wing politically, and two more left wing:

The Times/Sunday Times
The Daily Telegraph/Sunday Telegraph
The Guardian/The Observer
The Independent/The Independent on Sunday

In 2003 The Independent started concurrent production of both broadsheet and tabloid editions. The two editions had exactly the same content, putting a new spin on the phrase "broadsheet quality in a tabloid format". The Times also now has a tabloid alternative, called the Compact Times with the same content as the broadsheet edition. However, this has not been as successful, selling only 45-50% of the total Times sale. Rumours persist that the newspaper will axe its broadsheet edition in the near future. However, the level of reader resistance to this move is high. The Guardian currently uses broadsheet for its main section, but has a features section called "G2" which is published in a tabloid format. The Guardian is to axe its broadsheet edition in 2006 when it will switch to a Berliner format (partway between a broadsheet and tabloid.

From May 17 2004 The Independent has been published only in the tabloid/compact format. It remains to be seen how this will affect the usage of the terms.

The UK has other prominent broadsheets. The Scotsman is not a true national newspaper, as it is 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.

The average circulation of the Times is around 661,000 and the Telegraph sells 908,000 copies daily, while the circulations of the Guardian and Independent are more approximately 380,000 and 265,000. The Financial Times sells over 400,000 copies, the Scotsman maybe 70,000 (all figures July 2004).