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How to write a headline
We all know that the folks who write the news stories are rarely the same folks who write the headlines for those stories. That job is usually handled by an editor. An editor should have some kind of "big picture" advantage and take into consideration other concerns than just introducing the story. The biggest of these concerns is usually space; brevity is the soul of headline writing. That is why I was surprised to see this wordy headline on my New York Times this morning: "Hu Takes Full Power in China as He Gains Control of Military." Are you telling me no one in that newsroom thought of the headline, "Hu's on First?"