Jacqueline GaNun

• “The 25 Most Defining Pieces of Furniture From the Last 100 Years,” The New York Times Style Magazine
• “Don’t work in bed, and other tips for creating a peaceful sleep zone in a studio apartment,” Associated Press
• “From UGA President’s House to 9 bathroom luxury. The 10 most expensive houses in Athens in July,” Athens Banner-Herald
• “10 Fantastic Ways to Heat Up the Space Around a Fireplace,” HGTV
• “High-Contrast Color Combos to Elevate Your Home,” HGTV

The most striking thing to me about these pieces is their departure from the norms of “hard” news. They are all listicles, most in a straightforward numbered format, and three make it explicitly clear in the hed. This format is very prevalent on HGTV and not so frequent in the New York Times Style Magazine or the AP.

HGTV is also the most commercial of the outlets. It has a disclaimer about affiliate links and links directly to designers, which isn’t common in other types of news coverage. The two HGTV pieces (one of which I selected) are also heavily sourced. “High-Contrast Color Combos” has a designer for each item. Similarly, nine of 10 items in “Ways to Heat Up the Space” have a source. This speaks to the diversity inherent in home coverage — there are very few objective facts in the discipline. Different designers have different opinions on rooms, trends and pieces. (The Athens Banner-Herald piece is an outlier in that it has just one source: Zillow.)

Most of the pieces are quite editorial. The ABH’s is the most dramatic, gushing about “breathtaking views,” “pristine acres” and “gourmet kitchens” — a phrase used no less than six times. The AP is on the opposite end of the spectrum. While the writing is creative and upbeat (“the vibes we all want from home life: cohesive, calming and sleep-friendly”), the article doesn’t inject as much opinion.

The NYT article is the most interesting to me largely because the hed makes such a lofty promise. I enjoyed the behind-the-scenes narrative of the panel’s sparring and found the visuals incredibly compelling, particularly because of the contrast between archival and contemporary photos. I think the AP and ABH articles would benefit from more visuals. I was particularly confused by the ABH’s lack of photos for just a few homes. Not every article should be a long-form undertaking like the NYT’s, but the centered text with strong photos and few ads makes for a phenomenal reading experience.