Egypt's Supreme Council for Media Regulation (SCMR) issued a decision on 21 May ordering all press, radio and TV to add religious forms of address and full titles when mentioning the country's top Islamic and Christian leaders.
This means saying/writing His Holiness Pope Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark, and His Eminence Grand Imam of al-Azhar Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayyib.
Head of the SCMR Makram Muhammad Ahmed said that this decision was taken in order "to return to the original traditions" of the press. He added that he had noticed that media reports were recently referring to al-Tayyib and Tawadros II "normally" without any recognition for their status.
Needless to say, this caused a flurry of comments from journalists in Egypt on social media platforms, many of them ridiculing the decision. One asked, shall we add The Cinderella before the name of Soad Hosni now too (a late classic Egyptian movie star popularly known by this title)? Many wondered who would be next: the president? the prime minister? Some naturally argued that the right place for such forms of address was mosques and churches - and that journalists carried an obligation to report impartially.
It is amusing to imagine how a journalist would write a report according to this rule, if one of these figures gets involved in a negative series of actions or events.
Interestingly, though, one would often see Egyptian media reports mentioning al-Tayyib with only a short title such as "the mufti" or "Sheikh", and referring to him thereafter in the report as "al-Tayyib". And nothing would be a cause for concern. However, I do not think this ever applied to Tawadors II, who is always referred to as "the pope" - perhaps due to sectarian sensitivities in the country? Muslim journalists' lack of knowledge on what to do with his title? Adopting this style from those before and from Western media?
Anyway, we need to watch out now for future reports mentioning al-Tayyib or Tawadros II, and see to what degree this decision will be followed.