This article may contain excessive, poor or irrelevant examples. You can improve the article by adding more descriptive text and removing less pertinent examples. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for further suggestions. (April 2011)

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2007)

Broadsheet is the largest of the various newspaper formats and is characterized by long vertical pages (typically 22 inches / 559 millimetres or more). 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[link]

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/33.1 by 23.4 in). South African broadsheet newspapers have a double-page spread sheet size of 820 by 578 mm/32 by 22.8 in (single-page live print area of 380 x 545 mm).

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]) are downsizing to 12 inches (305 mm) wide by 22+³⁄₄ inches (578 mm) long for a folded page.

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).

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 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[link]

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 Great Britain, the main competition for the broadside was the gradual reduction of the newspaper tax, beginning in the 1830s, and eventually its dismissal in 1855.^[2]

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[link]

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, August 6, 2007.

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

Connotations[link]

In some countries, especially Australia, Canada, UK, and USA, 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.

UK broadsheets[link]

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

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

As of April 2011, the average circulation of the Times was around 450,000, the Telegraph 640,000 copies daily, and the Financial Times around 372,000, while the circulations of the Guardian and Independent, both of them previously published in broadsheet format, were 264,000 and 181,000.^[3]

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[link]

In the United Kingdom[link]

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". Notably, the Daily Telegraph increased its lead in circulation over The Times when the latter switched to compact size — this is attributed to the backlash of traditional broadsheet readers.^{[citation needed]}

In the United States[link]

In the U.S., The Wall Street Journal made headlines when it announced its overseas version would convert to a tabloid on October 17, 2005.^[4] There is strong debate in the United States on whether or not the rest of the national papers will, or even should, follow the trend of the British papers and the WSJ.^[5] Currently, both the Chicago Sun-Times and the St. Louis Post Dispatch are printed as compact format newspapers, as well as a digested version of the Washington Post, the edition of July 31, 2006, becoming the first American newspaper to change to the Berliner format; however, the most recent change was in February 2009 when the Reading Eagle converted to the Berliner format as well.^[6]

Notable broadsheets[link]

Argentina[link]

• La Nación, one of the most important newspapers.
• Los Andes, Mendoza's newspaper.
• La voz del interior, Córdoba's newspaper.

Australia[link]

• The Australian, a national newspaper
• The Age, Melbourne
• The Canberra Times
• The Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney

Bangladesh[link]

Most Bangladeshi Daily newspapers are broadsheets.

• The Daily Star, a Bangladeshi broadsheet English language daily.
• The Bangladesh Observer, oldest continuously published English language daily in Bangladesh.
• Daily Naya Diganta, a broadsheet Bengali language daily in Bangladesh.
• The Daily Ittefaq, oldest and most circulated newspaper of Bangladesh.
• New Age
• The Independent

Brazil[link]

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

• O Globo, Rio de Janeiro
• Folha de S. Paulo, São Paulo
• O Estado de São Paulo, São Paulo

Canada[link]

Almost all of Canada's major daily newspapers are broadsheets.^[7] Newspapers are in English, unless stated otherwise.

National[link]

• The Globe and Mail
• The National Post
• Le Devoir (French)

Atlantic Canada[link]

• The Telegram, St. John's
• The Chronicle-Herald
• The Times & Transcript, Moncton
• The Telegraph Journal, Saint John, New Brunswick
• The Daily Gleaner, Fredericton
• The Charlottetown Guardian

Quebec[link]

• The Gazette, Montreal
• La Presse, Montreal (French)
• Le Soleil, Quebec city (French)

Ontario[link]

• The Guelph Mercury
• The Hamilton Spectator
• The Kingston Whig-Standard
• The London Free Press
• The Ottawa Citizen
• The Pembroke Daily Observer
• The Peterborough Examiner
• The St. Catharines Standard
• The Sudbury Star
• The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal
• The Toronto Star
• The Waterloo Region Record, Kitchener-Waterloo and Cambridge
• The Windsor Star

Western Canada[link]

• The Winnipeg Free Press
• The Brandon Sun, Brandon, Manitoba
• The Saskatoon Star-Phoenix
• The Regina Leader Post
• The Edmonton Journal
• The Red Deer Advocate, Red Deer, Alberta
• The Calgary Herald
• The Vancouver Sun
• The Victoria Times-Colonist, Victoria, British Columbia

Chile[link]

• El Mercurio

China[link]

• China Daily

Denmark[link]

• Jyllands-Posten (switched to tabloid in 2008)
• Politiken
• Berlingske Tidende (switched to compact in 2006)
• Kristeligt Dagblad
• Dagbladet Ringsted/Køge/Roskilde
• Frederiksborg Amts Avis

Dominican Republic[link]

• Listín Diario
• Hoy
• La Información, Santiago de los Caballeros

Ecuador[link]

• El Comercio
• El Telégrafo
• El Universo
• Expreso

Finland[link]

• Aamulehti
• Helsingin Sanomat
• Kaleva
• Turun Sanomat
• Österbottens Tidning

France[link]

• L'Équipe
• Le Figaro

Germany[link]

• Die Zeit
• Die Welt
• Süddeutsche Zeitung
• Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
• Der Tagesspiegel

Greece[link]

• Kathimerini

Hong Kong[link]

• South China Morning Post
• Hong Kong Economic Journal

Hungary[link]

• Népszabadság
• Magyar Nemzet

India[link]

• DNA
• Deccan Chronicle
• Deccan Herald
• Dinamalar
• Dainik Jagran
• The Financial Express
• The Indian Express
• The Economic Times
• The Hindustan Times
• The Hindu
• The Hitavada
• The New Indian Express
• The Statesman
• The Telegraph
• The Times of India
• Dainik Navajyoti
• Malayala Manorama
• Mathrubhumi
• Varthabharathi
• Imphal Free Press

Almost all major newspapers in India are broadsheets. Tabloids are mostly found in small circulation local or rural papers. In Karnataka, Times of India group is bringing out a weekly magazine in Kannada by name VIJAYANEXT which is in broadsheet.

Indonesia[link]

• Jawa Pos
• Kompas

Ireland[link]

• The Irish Examiner
• The Irish Independent
• The Irish Times

Israel[link]

• The Jerusalem Post
• Makor Rishon

Italy[link]

• Corriere della Sera, Milan
• Il Sole 24 Ore, Milan
• Il Mattino, Naples

Japan[link]

• The Yomiuri Shimbun
• The Japan Times (English)
• Asahi Shimbun

Lebanon[link]

• An-Nahar

Libya[link]

• Libya
• Al Bilad
• Al Mayadeen

Mexico[link]

• El Informador, Guadalajara, Jalisco
• El Universal, Mexico City

Mauritius[link]

• L'Express
• Le Matinal
• The Independent

The Netherlands[link]

• De Telegraaf

Malaysia[link]

• The Borneo Post
• Utusan Borneo

New Zealand[link]

• The New Zealand Herald, Auckland
• The Waikato Times, Hamilton
• The Dominion Post, Wellington
• The Press, Christchurch
• Ashburton Guardian, Ashburton Ashburton, New Zealand
• The Otago Daily Times, Dunedin
• The Taranaki Daily News, New Plymouth
• The Southland Times, Invercargill

Pakistan[link]

• The News International
• Dawn
• Express Tribune
• The Daily Times

All Pakistan regional and national newspapers are in Broadsheet. Pakistan Today is the first and only paper in 'Berliner style'.

Panama[link]

• La Prensa

Formerly:

• Panama America (Berliner)
• La Estrella de Panamá (Tabloid)

Peru[link]

• El Comercio, Lima
• La industria, Chiclayo

Philippines[link]

• Philippine Daily Inquirer
• The Philippine Star
• Manila Bulletin
• Manila Standard Today
• The Manila Times
• The Daily Tribune

Poland[link]

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

Portugal[link]

• Expresso, Lisboa

Romania[link]

• Ziarul de Iaşi, Iaşi
• Jurnalul Naţional, Bucharest

Russia[link]

• Izvestia
• Kommersant
• Russia Beyond the Headlines
• "Rossiyskaya Gazeta"
• Moskovsky Komsomolets

Singapore[link]

• The Straits Times

South Africa[link]

• Beeld
• Pretoria News
• The Star
• The Sunday Times

[edit] Spain

Like in Poland, all newspapers in Spain are printed in compact format.

Sweden[link]

The first major Swedish newspaper to leave the Broadsheet format and start printing in Tabloid 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. 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.^[8]

As of 2011, few daily newspapers in Sweden continue to be printed in Broadsheet. Värnamo Nyheter and Smålands-Tidningen, with average daily circulations of 18,700 and 15,700 respective (as of 2010, Tidningsstatistik AB^[9][10]) are two exceptions.

Turkey[link]

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

• Cumhuriyet
• Sabah
• Hurriyet
• Milliyet
• Posta
• Zaman

United Arab Emirates[link]

• Khaleej Times
• Gulf News
• The National

United Kingdom[link]

UK wide[link]

• The Financial Times (Monday to Saturday Only)
• The Daily Telegraph (The Sunday Telegraph)
• The Sunday Times

England[link]

• Yorkshire Post

Scotland[link]

• The Herald
• Scotland on Sunday

United States[link]

• The Albuquerque Journal
• The Arizona Republic
• The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
• The Bakersfield Californian
• The Baltimore Sun
• The Birmingham News
• The Boston Globe
• The Buffalo News
• The Chicago Tribune
• The Charlotte Observer
• The Daily News
• The Dallas Morning News
• The Denver Post
• The Detroit Free Press
• The Fargo Forum
• The Florida Times-Union
• The Fresno Bee
• The Houston Chronicle
• The Indianapolis Star
• The Kansas City Star
• The Las Vegas Review-Journal
• The Long Beach Press-Telegram
• The Los Angeles Times
• The Miami Herald
• The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
• The New Orleans Times-Picayune
• The New York Law Journal
• The New York Sun
• The New York Times
• The Newark Star-Ledger
• The Oklahoman
• The Orange County Register
• The Oregonian
• The Orlando Sentinel
• The Philadelphia Inquirer
• The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
• The Plain Dealer
• The Providence Journal
• The Seattle Times
• The St. Petersburg Times
• The Salt Lake Tribune
• San Antonio Express-News
• The San Bernardino Sun
• The San Diego Union-Tribune
• The San Francisco Chronicle
• The Star Tribune
• The Tampa Tribune
• The Wall Street Journal
• The Washington Post
• USA Today

Vatican City[link]

• L'Osservatore Romano

See also[link]

• Berliner
• Compact
• List of newspapers
• Newspaper format
• Paper size
• Tabloid

References[link]

The Chaser are an Australian satirical comedian group, known for their television programmes on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation channel. The group take their name from their production of satirical newspaper, a publication known to challenge conventions of taste. The group's motto is "Striving for Mediocrity in a World of Excellence".^[2]

The Chaser[link]

The Chaser's earliest foundations were Charles Firth, Dominic Knight, and Chas Licciardello who went to Sydney Grammar School together and produced a small satirical school magazine entitled The Tiger.^[3] Later on, Firth and Knight met Craig Reucassel and Julian Morrow at the University of Sydney. Firth, Knight, Reucassel, Morrow, Licciardello, and later Chaser members Chris Taylor and Andrew Hansen all went to the University of Sydney. Firth, Knight, Reucassel and Morrow began writing for the University of Sydney student newspaper entitled Honi Soit.^[4] In 1999 the four members began The Chaser and their first newspaper project entitled The Chaser.^[5] The Chaser members are:

• Charles Firth. Firth decided in 1999 that the founding members should produce a newspaper, in an attempt not to "grow up". Firth was the main person who got the project underway and was at the helm of the newspaper until its collapse in 2005.^[4][6] Firth appeared in The Chaser's television and radio productions until 2004. In 2005, Firth moved to the United States so his wife could finish her PhD.^[7] Firth, however, became The Chaser's American correspondent for the 2006 series of The Chaser's War on Everything and wrote a book titled American Hoax.^[8] Firth did some final stunts in America for the 2007 series in late 2006 and early 2007, before returning to Australia and going solo.^[9] Firth then began his own satirical newspaper The Manic Times in 2007, which collapsed soon after and now exists online.^[6]

• Dominic Knight was one of the founding members of the team. He appeared and starred in the 2001 series of The Election Chaser and the 2005 mini series Chaser News Alert. He also performed in the stage shows. He normally writes and does not perform for The Chaser's television shows.

• Julian Morrow. He became the executive producer of the television series after Andrew Denton left the role in 2004.^[10]

• Craig Reucassel was a founding member of the team.

• Chas Licciardello, who had attended Sydney Grammar School with Firth and Knight, started to work on The Chaser newspaper in 1999, but did not take any credit for his work. However when the newspaper started to go well, he was happy to put his name to his work. Licciardello refers to himself as a writer and not a performer, which is why he does the ‘edgier’ stunts in the television series. He states that he is not very talented and therefore does “lots of dodgy material”.^[11]

• Chris Taylor had gone to the University of Sydney but never personally knew the four founding members. He moved to Melbourne under a cadetship with the ABC doing journalism. Taylor approached The Chaser, based in Sydney, and asked if they took contributions and The Chaser accepted them. Taylor spent two years emailing his articles to The Chaser, and then quit his job to do a television series based on the 2001 Australian federal election with The Chaser and became a member of The Chaser.^[5][12] Taylor was the anchor with Reucassel in their television productions CNNNN, The Chaser Decides and The Chaser’s War on Everything and worked as the script editor for the television shows.^[13]

• Andrew Hansen worked with some of The Chaser members at the University of Sydney while studying literature and history, performing in their early revues. Hansen started working with the online Chaser website in 2000 writing columns for his shITe section, which looked at the worst of the internet. After two years, he was considered for a part in the Chaser’s 2002 television series, for the content on shITe. After The Election Chaser in 2001, The Chaser decided they needed a performer in the team. Hansen then joined in the group in 2002.^[4][14]

The Chaser projects[link]

[edit] The Chaser newspaper

The newspaper, first published in 1999, was The Chaser team's first enterprise. The Chaser only had a limited fan base, with the average sales numbers per issue well under 30,000. When their newspaper was shown as a lead story in all major Australian news broadcasts, not only was the headline widely spread, the concept and the popularity of the newspaper leapt dramatically.

Founding contributors to the newspaper include Gregor Stronach, Johanna Featherstone, Sholto Macpherson, Matt Taylor, David Stewart, and Arion McNicoll. Later contributors include Kara Greiner, Richard Cooke, Shane Cubis, and Tim Brunero. Cartoonists Fiona Katauskas and Andrew Weldon drew for the newspaper from its early days.^[15]

The Chaser and its writers had its first major controversy when their 21 February 2003 edition published Prime Minister John Howard’s private home number on its front page with the headline "Howard ignores the people. So call him at home on (02) 9922 6189". The release of the number comes after Howard’s attitude to half a million protesters recently marching for peace. Howard’s number was blocked by the afternoon after receiving many calls in the morning and federal police had been to The Chaser headquarters. The Chaser have stated they received the phone number via an SMS message in 2002.^[5][16]

The Chaser have released five annuals based on The Chaser newspaper:

• The Chaser Annual 2000: The Little-Read Book
• The Chaser Annual 2001: Bradman, The Cremated Years
• The Chaser Annual 2002: The War on Error
• Embedded with The Chaser: Annual 2003
• The Chaser Annual 2004: Intelligence Failures

After six years of publication The Chaser decided that, due to an inability to meet production costs and failing audiences, they would cease publication of the newspaper. The paper, which originally circulated fortnightly, was being released more sporadically and their 91st and final paper was released on 6 February 2005. The Chaser still planned to continue their writing online and to continue to write their annuals.^[16]

The Chaser has since released six annuals and a "best of" annual which compiled the best of the five preceding annuals:

• The Chaser Annual 2005: By Dan Brown
• 50 Golden Years of The Chaser - 1955-2005
• The Chaser Annual 2006: Burqa's Backyard
• The Chaser Annual 2007: The Other Secret
• The Chaser Annual 2008: The Little Rudd Book
• The Chaser Annual 2009: The Email Eunuch
• The Chaser Annual 2010: Eat Pray Vomit

Current writers online are Richard Cooke, Shane Cubis, Dominic Knight, Chas Licciardello, Julian Morrow, and Craig Reucassel with additional material provided by Scott Dooley, Lisa Pryor, David Stewart, Gregor Stronach, and Chris Taylor.^[17]

The Chaser on television and radio[link]

After two years of their satirical newspaper, which also included various radio roles, The Chaser had attracted the attention of Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) star Andrew Denton. Denton signed them with ABC and stated "They've got the talent, the work ethic, the fearlessness, the desire". Denton then helped the Chaser to perform their first television program The Election Chaser, on ABC TV, which was to be based on the 2001 Australian federal election and in the format of the national tallyroom. Four episodes were broadcast and the show was nominated for the 2002 Logie for "Most Outstanding Comedy Program".^[18] Denton acted as executive producer and script editor for The Election Chaser and would also do so for CNNNN.^[10][19]

The Chaser team have gone on to create other television shows for ABC TV, including the Logie Award winning CNNNN in 2002-3 and The Chaser Decides in 2004. CNNNN was a satire of not only the popular American news networks CNN and Fox News, but also incorporated Australian and world current affairs into the programme. The Election Chaser inspired a similar programme covering the 2004 election, The Chaser Decides. The coverage, as with all the Chaser productions, was satirical, but a different view on the way the election was covered by the local media.

The Chaser Decides returned again in 2007 to cover the 24 November election. It purported to be broadcasting from Australian Electoral Commission's National Tally Room.

In 2004-5, Taylor and Reucassel hosted the Triple J radio drive programme Today Today. In 2005 the rest of the team produced Chaser News Alert (CNA), aired on ABC2. Episodes of this series were only a few minutes long. Between July 2006 and January 2007 Taylor and Reucassel returned to Triple J to host Bloody Sunday, filling the This Sporting Life time slot while Roy & HG were on leave from the station. Chas Licciardello and Knight also did a brief fill in show on Triple M called Chas and Dom from 'The Chaser'.

Cirque du Chaser[link]

In March 2005, The Chaser members, with the exception of Firth but with CNNNN collaborator Rebecca De Unamuno, wrote and performed a stage production for the Sydney Big Laugh Comedy Festival. Cirque du Chaser, the name a parody of Cirque du Soleil, was performed to eight sell-out audiences which performed stand up comedy, sketches, live music, and video satire. The Chaser then took the show on a national tour which was also sold out. Cirque du Chaser gave the team confidence to perform in front of a live audience in their new television show, which would be similar to the stage show.^[20][21] The Chaser filmed a pilot for ABC TV in mid 2005 under the working title Hey, Hey it’s the Chaser.^[22]

The Chaser's War on Everything[link]

The Chaser team signed a contract with the ABC to produce 27 half-hour episodes for 2006, which would be based on news reviews, studio monologues and confrontations with politicians, celebrities, and business leaders. The project would be performed in front of a live audience compared with their previous news format television productions and was named The Chaser's War on Everything.^[23] The first season of The Chaser's War on Everything premiered on ABC TV on 17 February 2006 at 9:45 pm.^[24] The series aired late on Friday evenings where it developed a cult following, getting an average national audience of between 591,000 and 821,000 viewers each episode.^[25] The last episode of the 2006 season was broadcast on 8 September 2006.

The first thirteen episodes of the first season were released on DVD on 17 August 2006. The release included commentary by The Chaser and the show's crew and included bonus features and unaired scenes.^[26][27] The second DVD for the first season contained the latter thirteen episodes. It was in the same format of the first DVD and was released on 1 November 2006.^[28]

The Chaser's War on Everything returned for a second season on Wednesday, 28 March 2007 at 9pm, moving from their Friday night timeslot. It regularly attracted more than a million viewers per episode.^[29]

After 20 June episode of season two, the Chaser team suspended the series for ten weeks, so the usual production run time of twenty-six episodes per year did not conclude before the 2007 Australian Federal Election.^[30] The second season returned on 5 September 2007.

The Chaser then announced^[31] that The Chaser's War On Everything was on hold during 2008, with a new (ten episode) series in 2009 which began airing on Wednesday, 27 May 2009. In 2008, the team (without Chris Taylor, but plus writer Dominic Knight) toured Australia with a stage show, The Chaser's Age of Terror Variety Hour, produced in conjunction with Laughing Stock.

On 29 July 2009, the final episode of The War was broadcast.

The Blow Parade[link]

The Blow Parade^[32] is a comedy series performed by Andrew Hansen, Chris Taylor, and Craig Schuftan, originally premiering on the radio station Triple J on 28 April 2010. This 5-part series satirises the music industry, music journalism and syndicated golden-oldie radio shows. Each episode, the host Captain Blow (Hansen) guides listeners through the making of a classic album from yesteryear, from bands that don’t actually exist. The series was written by Chris Taylor, with music by Andrew Hansen, and was produced by Craig Schuftan. It was released on CD and through the iTunes Store Australia with bonus tracks. The musicians included Triple J's Lindsay McDougall (guitar) and Chaser member Dominic Knight (bass).^[33] The CD of the series won the 2010 ARIA Award for Best Comedy Release.^[34]

Yes We Canberra![link]

The ABC confirmed reports in July 2010 that The Chaser would return with a new series covering the Australian federal election.^[35]

The new programme, entitled Yes We Canberra!, was formally announced on 12 July. The ABC said that the series would air weekly during the election campaign, with a further episode after the election.^[36] It purports to be an audience warm-up for the ABC's flagship current affairs program Lateline (which does not actually have a studio audience). After the Election date was announced (21 August), it was revealed that the show will premiere on 28 July. A DVD was released 15 September 2010.^[37] The Chaser - Election Collection containing all the election shows was released 2 December 2010.

The Chaser's Royal Wedding Commentary[link]

Originally set to air on 29 April 2011 on ABC2, a Chaser special was to be shown based on the Wedding of Prince William of Wales and Kate Middleton featuring live commentary from the team members. However the ABC were advised by the BBC and APTN to pull the show from being aired. In response to the decision by the ABC, Julian Morrow from the Chaser said, "For a monarchy to be issuing decrees about how the media should cover them seems quite out of keeping with modern democratic times... but I suppose that's exactly what the monarchy is."^[38] APTN is a private enterprise. The BBC is a corporation, independent from direct government intervention, with its activities being overseen by the BBC Trust.^[39]

The Hamster Wheel[link]

In August 2011 the ABC confirmed a new 8-episode series called The Hamster Wheel to air later in the year.^[40] The series aims to "examine the contemporary media landscape, where everyone from journalists to political fixers is perpetually at risk of spinning out of control".^[41] The show premiered on ABC1 on October 5.^[42]

Members involved in projects[link]

The Chaser productions[link]

Other TV series featuring two or more members[link]

Public reactions[link]

In July 2006, Licciardello faced charges of "offensive conduct" from the New South Wales Police Force, after turning up at a rugby league football match between the Canterbury Bulldogs and the St George Illawarra Dragons on 14 July 2006 dressed up as a Bulldogs fan and attempting to sell fake knives, knuckledusters and balaclavas for a War on Everything sketch.^[46][47]

In April 2007, a 15 year old boy duped YouTube into deleting all clips posted from The Chaser's War On Everything by claiming to be a representative of the ABC.^[48] They were later reinstated.

At the 2007 Logie Awards some of the Chaser team were "manhandled" by Crown Casino security staff on the red carpet before being closely supervised for the rest of the evening.^[49]

During Dick Cheney's visit to Australia in 2007, members of The Chaser team were included on the official list of terrorists, anarchists, and protesters deemed to pose a threat to the US Vice-President.^[50]

The Chaser team gained notoriety and considerable media attention over "The Eulogy Song", written by Chris Taylor and performed by Andrew Hansen on the 17 October 2007 episode of The Chaser's War On Everything. The song satirised the media's posthumous praise of deceased celebrities, regardless of their behaviour in life, and mentioned among others John Lennon, Peter Brock, Stan Zemanek, Princess Diana, Steve Irwin, Donald Bradman, and Kerry Packer. The song attracted comment from both the media and politicians including Kevin Rudd and John Howard, the latter of whom used reference to the song in remarks during a sketch later aired on the programme.^[51]

APEC arrest[link]

Morrow and Licciardello were arrested by NSW Police on 6 September 2007 outside the InterContinental Hotel after driving a fake motorcade through the Sydney central business district and breaching an APEC security zone.^[52] The Chaser crew entered a secure area by masquerading as the motorcade of the Canadian delegation to APEC. They were arrested by police after Licciardello emerged from the car dressed as Osama bin Laden, near the hotel where U.S. President George W. Bush was staying.^[53] They were subsequently detained, taken to Surry Hills Police Station for questioning and charged with "entering a restricted area without special justification" under the APEC Meeting (Police Powers) Act 2007.^[54][55] Licciardello, Morrow and the nine other production members were released on bail to appear in court on 4 October 2007.^[56] If found guilty, they were liable to serve a maximum 6 months imprisonment, or a maximum 2 years imprisonment if they also had possession or control of a prohibited item with no special justification.^[57] The Chaser team issued a statement on 6 September that they had been given permission by police officers to enter the restricted area.^[58] Under section 37(2)(b) of the legislation a person has special justification to be in an area if "the person is required, authorised or permitted to be in the area by the Commissioner or a police officer". Subsequently, the hearing was adjourned until 5 December 2007 at the request of ABC lawyers.^[59] The charges were dropped near the end of April 2008.

The day after the APEC stunt, police questioned Craig Reucassel, Chris Taylor and Dominic Knight and a film crew from the Chaser after they were involved in a second stunt in central Sydney.^[60] The three were released by police after being briefly questioned for carrying around black cardboard boxes dressed up as limousines.

The 'Make a Realistic Wish Foundation' skit[link]

On 3 June 2009 episode, Taylor and Hansen were involved in a skit which was set in a terminally ill children's ward of a hospital, which centered around a spokesman (Taylor) portraying himself along with a doctor (Hansen), from the fictional 'Make a Realistic Wish Foundation' (a spoof of the real Make-a-Wish Foundation). The premise of the skit was that if the terminally ill children are only going to live for a few more months before passing away, it is not worth spending money on lavish gifts for them. The one minute long sketch featured Taylor giving one girl a pencil case instead of a trip to Disneyland. Then along the same lines, Hansen gave another girl a stick instead of a meeting with Zac Efron. The skit concluded with Taylor stating "Why go to any trouble, when they're only gonna die anyway". A similar skit had already been performed in sketch titled "A Reasonable Request Foundation" aired on comedy show The Mansion on Foxtel the previous year.

The reaction to the sketch from media commentators was mostly negative.^{[citation needed]} Then-Prime Minister Kevin Rudd stated that The Chaser team "should hang their heads in shame". He went on to say that "I didn't see that but it's been described to me...I actually don't mind The Chaser taking the mickey out of me or any other politician, at any time and any place....But having a go at kids with a terminal illness is really beyond the pale, absolutely beyond the pale."^[61] That morning, the Chaser team along with the ABC managing director, Mark Scott, apologised for airing the skit, with Scott stating that "We have unreservedly apologised for airing that skit,...It's very clear today from the reaction that it's caused considerable offence and distress, particularly to parents of children that are seriously ill....I've spoken to Julian Morrow from The Chaser and my understanding is that certainly wasn't the intention of the script, but that's the consequences of it." The ABC will now change their procedures for reviewing episode content which gets broadcast. Scott continued, "We're going to look at those processes ... I mean we all know that The Chaser push the edges and it's a tightrope that we walk, and I suppose there are many, many skits that they've put to air that have offended someone along the way - that's part of the nature of the satirical and black comedy that they do." The skit has also been cut from any further television airings.^[62] The ABC announced on Friday that The Chaser's War on Everything will be suspended for 2 weeks. This was relayed via a message by The Chaser on their website, who stated that whilst they disagree with the decision to suspend the show, they apologise for making the skit, acknowledging that it went too far.^[63]

ABC's Managing Director announced on 2009-06-10 that the ABC's Head of Comedy, Amanda Duthie, had been removed from her position after a review of the process which led to the skit being broadcast.^[64] He was quoted as saying, "The segment should not have been broadcast. We recognise that it caused unnecessary and unreasonable hurt and offence to our viewers and the broader community and we have apologised for this," adding, "This was an error of judgement." Ms Duthie will continue to be responsible for Arts and Entertainment programs.

In their first episode after being suspended, the Chaser team acknowledged they had made a mistake broadcasting the skit. Later on in the show, they recreated the skit, but instead of targeting sick kids, Kevin Rudd's anger-management issues is parodied. In the same episode Taylor is shown to be attacked by two boxers in another sketch for being "the guy from the Make a Wish sketch". In the closing credits of the show's finale, Taylor is said to have "died of cancer."

See also[link]

	Book: The Chaser
Wikipedia books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.

References[link]

External links[link]

• The Chaser official website
• The Chaser's War on Everything
• The Chaser Forum

v t e The Chaser Charles Firth Andrew Hansen Dominic Knight Chas Licciardello Julian Morrow Craig Reucassel Chris Taylor Literary productions Satirical newspaper Annual Television productions The Election Chaser / The Chaser Decides / Yes We Canberra! CNNNN News Alert War on Everything (episodes) The Hamster Wheel Radio productions Today Today / Bloody Sunday Chas and Dom The Race Race The Blow Parade Stage productions Cirque du Chaser Dead Caesar Age of Terror Variety Hour Related articles APEC pranks Book:The Chaser

Charlie Brooker
Brooker at the 2011 Royal Television Society Awards
Born	Charlton Brooker (1971-03-03) 3 March 1971 (age 41) Reading, Berkshire, England
Nationality	British
Alma mater	Polytechnic of Central London
Occupation	Broadcaster, writer, columnist, comedian, critic
Years active	1998–present
Religion	None (Atheist)[1]
Spouse	Konnie Huq (2010–present)

Charlton "Charlie" Brooker (born 3 March 1971) is a British journalist, screenwriter and broadcaster. His style of humour is savage and profane, with surreal elements and a consistent satirical pessimism. He presents TV shows Screenwipe, Gameswipe and Newswipe, wrote a review column for The Guardian newspaper and currently writes a comment piece each Monday for The Guardian supplement G2, and is one of four creative directors of comedy production company Zeppotron. His five-part horror drama Dead Set for E4 earned him a nomination for a BAFTA. Brooker won Columnist of the Year at the 2009 British Press Awards for his column,^[2] and the Best Newcomer at the British Comedy Awards 2009. He is co-presenter of 10 O'Clock Live on Channel 4. He has also presented the documentary series How TV Ruined Your Life on BBC Two and created the Channel 4 satirical drama trilogy Black Mirror (writing and co-writing Episodes 1 and 2 respectively).

Early life and education[link]

This section requires expansion.

Brooker was born in Reading, Berkshire ^[3], growing up in the village of Brightwell-cum-Sotwell, Oxfordshire^[4]. He first worked as a writer and cartoonist for Oink!, a comic produced in the late-1980s.^[5]

After attending Wallingford School, Brooker attended the Polytechnic of Central London (which became the University of Westminster during his time there) – studying for a BA in Media Studies. He did not graduate because his dissertation was written on video games, which was not an acceptable topic.^[5][6]

Career[link]

[edit] PC Zone

Brooker wrote for PC Zone magazine in the mid-1990s. Aside from games reviews, his output included the comic strip "Cybertwats" and a column titled "Sick Notes", where Brooker would insult anyone who wrote in to the magazine and offered a £50 prize to the "best" letter.

In February 1998, one of Brooker's one-shot cartoons caused the magazine to be pulled from the shelves of many British newsagents. The cartoon was titled "Helmut Werstler's Cruelty Zoo" and professed to be an advert for a theme park created by a Teutonic psychologist for children to take out their violent impulses on animals rather than humans. It was accompanied by photoshopped pictures of children smashing the skulls of monkeys with hammers, jumping on a badger with a pitchfork, and chainsawing an orang-utan, among other things. The original joke was supposed to be at the expense of the Tomb Raider games, known at the time for the number of animals killed, but the original title, "Lara Croft's Cruelty Zoo", was changed for legal reasons.

In October 2008, Brooker and several other ex-writers were invited back to review a game for the 200th issue. Brooker reviewed Euro Truck Simulator.

SuperKaylo[link]

This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (November 2011)

A number of Brooker's artworks were available to the public on his website. This body of work is drawn both from the commissions of his various patrons, and began as a paper comic that was sold to customers at Brooker's former workplace CeX. In addition to its counter presence, Brooker sold issues to mail order customers when they called up to place orders for games.

One aspect of the SuperKaylo site was a series of recorded phone conversations, that had originally started from a commissioned featured for PC Zone on technical support phonelines. Brooker took things further than this half serious investigation, when in 1999 he called up the then editor of Edge magazine, Jason Brookes. Pretending to be an angry father, he phoned up enraged by an advert that had appeared in a previous issue for CeX, one that Brooker himself had written and drawn.

TVGoHome[link]

From 1999 to 2003 he wrote the satirical TVGoHome website,^[7][8] a regular series of mock TV schedules published in a format similar to that of the Radio Times, consisting of a combination of savage satire and surreal humour and featured in technology newsletter Need To Know. A print adaptation of the site was published by Fourth Estate in 2001. A TV sketch show based on the site was broadcast on UK digital station E4 the same year.^[9]

Newspaper columns[link]

Brooker began writing a TV review column titled "Screen Burn" for The Guardian newspaper's Saturday entertainment supplement The Guide in 2000, a role he continued through to October 2010.

From the autumn of 2005, he wrote a regular series of columns in The Guardian supplement "G2" on Fridays called "Supposing", in which he free-associated on a set of vague what-if themes. Since late October 2006 this column has been expanded into a full-page section on Mondays, including samples from TVGoHome and Ignopedia, an occasional series of pseudo-articles on topics mostly suggested by readers. The key theme behind Ignopedia was that, while Wikipedia is written and edited by thousands of users, Ignopedia would be written by a single sub-par person with little or no awareness of the facts.^[10]

On 24 October 2004, he wrote a column on George W. Bush and the forthcoming 2004 US Presidential Election^[11] which concluded:

The Guardian withdrew the article from its website and published and endorsed an apology by Brooker.^[12] He has since commented about the remark in the column stating:

Brooker left the "Screen Burn" column in 2010. In the final column,^[14] he noted how increasingly difficult he found it to reconcile his role in mainstream media and TV production with his writing as a scabrous critic or to objectively criticise those he increasingly works and socialises with. Longtime covering contributor Grace Dent took over the column. He continues to contribute other articles to The Guardian on a regular basis.

Television[link]

From 1999 to 2000, Brooker played hooded expert 'the Pundit' in short-lived show Games Republic hosted by Trevor and Simon on BSkyB.

In 2000, Brooker was one of the writers of the Channel 4 show The Eleven O'Clock Show and a co-host (with Gia Milinovich) on BBC Knowledge's The Kit, a low-budget programme dedicated to gadgets and technology (1999–2000). In 2001, he was one of several writers on Channel 4's controversial Brass Eye special on the subject of paedophilia.

In 2003, Brooker wrote an episode entitled "How to Watch Television" for Channel 4's The Art Show.^[15] The episode was presented in the style of a public information film and was partly animated, and gave advice on how to view television.

Together with Brass Eye's Chris Morris, Brooker co-wrote the sitcom Nathan Barley, based on a character from one of TVGoHome's fictional programmes. The show was broadcast in 2005 and focused on the lives of a group of London media 'trendies'. The same year, he was also on the writing team of the Channel 4 sketch show Spoons, produced by Zeppotron.