German Publishers Launch Tabloid-Sized Newspapers

The German newspaper market is being shaken up by new-look tabloid-format dailies. The Handelsblatt Group, which publishes Germany's biggest business daily launched a new title this week called News. The publisher distributed the first issue of the paper in Frankfurt on Monday night. Handelsblatt says that the tabloid-sized paper will be printed Monday through Friday and sell for 50 cents. The company has started a 25,000 issue trial run in the Frankfurt metropolitan area. If the newspaper is successful, distribution will be expanded to other cities. For years, major German dailies have seen readership decline. Handelsblatt says News will combine elements of magazines and newspapers and that it is aimed at the i-pod generation. In addition to original reporting by its editorial staff of 25, News will contain editorials from Handelsblatt and the Berlin daily Der Tagesspiegel. The debut of News comes just four months after Germany's largest publisher, Axel-Springer, began printing its own daily tabloid based on its nationally distributed flagship Die Welt newspaper called Welt Kompakt.