The Bee had a real estate story today about "neighborhood envy". The story says over half of people in the Sacramento area would like to live somewhere else, such as downtown Sacramento, Elk Grove or Roseville. At the top of the online version of the story is a video about the "most expensive home on the market in the city", a $5.5M property on Laurel Drive in Sierra Oaks Vista. That house is NOT in the City of Sacramento, it is in the UnCity of Arden Arcade. But, hey, it's a fancy, expensive house in a desirable neighborhood. So the Bee says it is "in the city". 

Of course, if there is a crime scene or a failed business or a cockroach-infested apartment that refugee families have been crammed into, or if there is any less-than-desirable aspect, a story about it won't say it is "in the city". Nope, if there is a bad spin, count on The Bee to say it is in Arden Arcade. The local TV and radio stations do pretty much the same thing. These media institutions consider themselves "mainstream", i.e. believable. Yet they don't seem to be able to know, let alone inform the public about, the differences between local political jurisdictions. That is odd, given how long these venerable media institutions have been around. But the differences among the political subdivisions sometimes matter, leading people to prefer some places over others. That is why attention to detail is important. Or is it?