Saturday, April 26, 2025

May 11, 2016

We Received This Email From An Angry Milnerton Resident

When naming and shaming a suburb, it's important to get your facts straight. Julie had some words for us after this morning.

This is a lesson for all in media. When writing a story that reports potential harmful effects on a suburb’s property prices, it’s vital to include the correct information.

Just earlier today we reported on a tik bust that occured “near Milnerton”, with the headline Seriously, Guys – Spare A Thought For Milnerton Residents This Weekend. Although we admit that we never really specified that it was near Milnerton, to be fair, our source (EWN) stated that the couple was arrested “at their Milnerton home.” 

This is what Julie had to say

Please update your story, the incident occurred NEAR Milnerton not in Milnerton. In fact, it occurred in Parklands, which is closer to Table View than Milnerton. See https://www.sabc.co.za/news/a/a4c9c0004cb821a89a3cdab995d3d1cd/Two-drug-suspects-due-in-Cape-Town-court–20160511

I know it sounds like I am being pedantic, but I am tired of the media referring to other suburbs as Milnerton, when they mean Brooklyn, Rugby, Parklands etc. It negatively impacts property prices in Milnerton and gives the suburb a bad reputation.

Thanks
Julie

Wondering where exactly Parklands is, I went to Google Maps and found two interesting points:

  • Parklands is north of Table View, just next to Blouberg
  • The Milnerton area extends all the way east to include Bothasig (shown beautifully by the red highlighted area).

How confusing is that?

Screen Shot 2016-05-11 at 12.57.03 PM

We do apologise, Julie, we have made the corrections.

However, we are all wondering if the first bust really did happen in Milnerton – for that was a lot more damaging than this one.