Last Updated: May 26, 1999
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The write stuff: Winning heads and
leads
Houston editor lets success go to his heads
By Brian Cooper
This is the first in an occasional series of profiles on the people
behind the headlines, the copy editors.
Hank Glamann is a journalistic evangelist.
When he’s not crafting headlines from the slot of the Houston Chronicle’s
national desk, he often is out talking up newspaper careers — with an emphasis
on copyediting.
He said that one of his favorite parts of his job, after writing headlines,
is visiting colleges and high schools encouraging students to consider
jobs in the newspaper business.
Glamann also is a journalistic advocate. He doesn’t hold back when discussing
the challenges and needs of copy editors, whose role, he said, is "generally
underappreciated."
"If we lose the quality control that comes from the copy desk, I fear
that we risk endangering newspapers’ role in society."
Glamann, a adjunct member of ASNE’s Human Resources committee, said
quality control is threatened as copy editors take on increasing responsibilities
for mastering the technology. Journalism can get squeezed out.
"The problem is that publishers believe that technology is going to
do the job previously performed by printers. But you’ve taken a large chunk
of the job from the back shop and put it on the copy desk," he said. "You
have to divide time between being a journalist and production.
"Production is tending to take an increasingly large share of copy editors’
time. The journalism component is what is suffering. I don’t want to demean
the work that’s done by technical personnel, but that is not what I have
chosen to do."
Glamann chooses to copyedit. He is a two-time winner of the Texas Daily
Newspaper Association’s John Murphy Award for excellence in copy editing.
"I enjoy both the ‘word’ side and the ‘visual’ side" of the copy desk
job, Glamann said. "And I love to write headlines."
He particularly likes the challenge of writing heads for "routine" stories.
He won a Texas APME headline-writing award with this 24-point gem over
a seven-inch story detailing a chilly summer day:
It will be a cold day in August before this record
is broken
Over a story about researchers’ study of a gene that may contribute
to alcoholism, Glamann once wrote:
Scientists slip mice a mickey
From his slot position, Glamann sees lots of headlines. "You have the
advantage of reworking somebody else’s headlines, to build on what they’ve
already done. We have a lot of really good people here."
For example, Glamann and Conrad Bibens recently collaborated on a headline
for an inside-page wire story concerning the rediscovery of a famous abolitionist’s
photograph. They wrote:
His memory goes marching on
Discovery means John Brown’s photo lies a-moldering
no more
Tucked back on page 27A recently was a wire story reporting that paper
recyclers are having problems working with envelopes bearing self-sticking
postage stamps. Glamann wrote:
A tough problem to lick
Popular self-adhesive stamps gum up the works
for recyclers
Though he admits he believes he "has a knack" for headline writing,
Glamann does have a method.
"I take a mental step back. I try to ask, ‘What does this story mean?’
Too often, headline writers will start going through the lead and plucking
words. That’s OK. However, it doesn’t always allow you to perform the most
important task, which is to persuade the reader to read into the story.
"I like to think of the headline as the doorway through which the reader
enters the story — to beckon the reader to come through."
Glamann keeps the reader in mind. He admits that he still gets a charge
knowing the "the paper that just landed on my driveway landed on a half-million
other driveways that morning."
***
Let’s get right to a few items from The Write Stuff’s mailbag containing
outstanding headlines and leads:
Cable TV thieves face prime time if convicted
(By Haki Crisden, Cleveland Plain Dealer, over a state wire story
reporting that theft of cable-TV service has been upgraded to felony status.)
***
Mets reward Lance a lot
(By Craig Schmidt, Asbury Park Press of Neptune, N.J., after the
National League team signed outfielder Lance Johnson to a $10 million contract
extension.)
***
"Asleep in her hospital bed, the dynamic businesswoman dreamed, lifting
her slender fingers to her lips and taking long, elegant puffs from a cigarette
that wasn’t there."
(By Jacqueline Soteropoulos, Tampa (Fla.) Tribune, describing Mim
Chutz, whose subsequent death to lung cancer and a brain tumor resulted
in a lawsuit against the cigarette industry.)
***
Here’s an attention-grabbing headline direct from the Scoreboard
page:
ab r
h rbi
Grnwll lf 5
2 4
9
(By Ron Driscoll, Cape Cod Times of Hyannis, Mass., after Boston
outfielder Mike Greenwell had the game of his life, batting in all nine
of the Red Sox’ runs.)
***
"Flight instructor Larry Huston recalls hurtling down a runway in a
jet trainer, realizing the aircraft was not gaining altitude, and telling
his U.S. Air Force student to ‘get your nose up.’
"A few tense moments passed and the aircraft still had not started to
climb. Huston glanced over to see the student tilting back his head.
"He thought I meant his nose."
(James Kirley, of the Press Journal of Vero Beach, Fla., on a feature
about Florida flight schools.)
***
Keep your nose in the game. Send your staff’s best headlines and leads
to The Write Stuff.
Cooper is executive editor of the Dubuque (Iowa) Telegraph Herald.
Contact him at P.O. Box 688, Dubuque, IA 52004-0688 or bcooper@
wcinet.com.
