In the newspaper industry, the term â tabloid â\nrefers both to a specific type of newspaper, and to a specific paper \nsize. Most laypeople think of a particular ki
…nd of publication when they\nhear the word â tabloid ,â not realizing \nthat the term was originally used in reference to paper size, and that \nthe two concepts are actually very closely linked. .
In terms of paper size, a tabloid \nis about the size of a large magazine, with a depth of around 14 inches\n(36 centimeters) and a width of around 10 inches (25 centimeters). The tabloid is essentially half the size of the larger broadsheet \nformat, making it much more compact and easy to handle. The precise \npaper size can very slightly, depending on the nation and the newspaper \ninvolved. .
The term originates in the marketing for medications in \nthe 1800s. When medicine first began to be marketed in capsules rather \nthan cumbersome bottles of loose powder and liquids, the capsules were \nknown as âtabloids.â The tabloid or tablet was supposed to be easier to take, since it was compact in size, and it became immensely popular. .
Newspapers\npicked up the term when they started halving the broadsheet size. News \ntabloids originally presented highly compressed and compacted news, as \nopposed to the more detailed and lengthy news in broadsheets. Over time,\ntabloids came to be associated with lots of pictures, lurid imagery, \nand simplistic stories, an association which endures to this day. (MORE)