Is an element's name metadata?

I've heard some people say that the markup is by itself metadata, that an
element's name is metadata, because it describes the element's content:

<reporter>    <-- This is metadata
John Smith    <-- This is data
</reporter>

Isn't this wrong? Comparing to what I learned from Dublin Core, metadata is
data too. It's not just the name of a property. I'd say it's the element's
context that decides whether <reporter> is a data or a metadata element.

<reporter>    <-- This is just the name of a property
John Smith    <-- This may be metadata, depending on the element's context
</reporter>

Is this the right way to think about metadata in XML?

Gustaf