Newspaper Size Explained: Printing Tech, Tax, And History Behind Large Pages

Aaj Tak · interesting

Newspapers are printed in a large size due to a combination of historical printing techniques, paper costs, and a unique British tax on knowledge. Early news was printed on single large sheets called broadsides, as manual typesetting and printing were laborious. Later, a 1712 British tax based on the number of pages incentivized printers to use larger paper sizes. This allowed more information to be printed on fewer pages, reducing both printing effort and tax liability. This practice evolved into the broadsheet format common today.