The July 2, 1978 issue of the New York Times was the
final one the paper sent to print under the linotype process. After
decades of relying on Gutenburg printing press-style technology,
the newspaper invested in a computerized method that would
eliminate the need to physically cast each letter of every page
into lead plates for the presses.
The automation and digitization of the "hot type"
process did not leave linotype operators jobless, however. Those
same employees who had run the hot metal typesetting machines were
sitting in front of computers the next day, typing stories into a
digital format rather than hammering them into place. Asked what
the technological upgrade would mean for him personally, one
employee responded, "it means I'll have to learn a new
process."1 Automation helped these workers print
newspapers more efficiently but it did not replace them.
