This used to be fine, so some recent change your side must have changed it;
Undercity shows as "contested"
[enter /RP rant about gnomes, conspiracies, thousand gnome marches et al]
^^
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Enabling "Status Bar Text" from Interface Options only enables it for your character, mob and NPC tags remain empty (ie no text on health/mana bars). Should have been enabling/disabling both.