Precise art of headline writing suffers setback

A good exercise for would-be headline writers is to encapsulate some historical event into a modern headline of say 34 to 36 counts

James Brodell ——Bio and Archives--April 23, 2026

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Widespread use of computers, although making publishing much easier, also destroyed a great art form. Most do not consider headline writing as art. But under the constraints of hot metal print publishing the discipline and skills needed rivaled those generating epigrams, haikus or poems.

Headline writers had to fit a specified space assigned by the editor laying out the newspaper or magazine page. There was little room for error.

Once written, the text of the headline went to the back production shop where a typically gruff man chewing a cigar assembled the words by hand using individual brass forms for each letter. Then he inserted his product into a Ludlow machine that injected a lead-based alloy into the form. Once cool and solid, the man then moved to a small table saw where he would set the specified column width. A headline that was a tad too long ended up being savaged by the saw blade. A rewrite was sought when the proof arrived at the layout desk with a final letter decapitated.

That’s why headline writers used a counting technique that usually showed a line of headline type could fit in the allocated space. Journalism college students until the 1990s learned this technique as did newly promoted headline writers. The count was not guaranteed, but usually worked.

Capital Ms and Ws were counted as two each. Other capital letters were 1.5, thin letters like the I and L sometimes were........

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