Looks like they may be getting some cojones down at The Miami Herald. Editor and Publisher reports today that Knight Ridder is considering turning the Herald into a tabloid.

"Are we looking at it? Absolutely," Herald Publisher Alberto Ibargüen told E&P from Miami. But he cautioned that no decisions have yet been reached.

Ibarguen said that that options under consideration include moving the entire Herald to tab size, moving just part of the paper, or retaining the broadsheet paper and starting a free tab. Ibargüen has kept an eye on the United Kingdom, where papers like The Independent and The Times of London transitioned from a broadsheet to a tabloid, he said.

"I need to emphasize that no decision has been made," Ibarguen said, adding that no formal plans have been presented to Knight Ridder. Before anything happens, an internal committee would need to address which options would fit the market while developing a business strategy. "We're not there yet," he said.

"In my heart, this should have been a tabloid. We did it as a tabloid. If they had what we call cojones, it would be a tabloid. It's going to take a lot of people to die, to retire, to whatever, for this paper to go tabloid."

I see the E&P article also says, "The Herald previously considered a move to tabloid size when planning its recent redesign, E&P reported in a June 2004 cover story" (emphasis mine). Or you could have read it at NewsDesigner.com in September 2003! (emphasis really mine)

>KR Considers 'Miami Herald' for Tabloid Switch [Editor & Publisher]