Giza Local Council has approved to change the name of Al-Falah (farmer) St. to Morsei Atallah, chairman of Al-Ahram. Congratulations to Atallah. There is a group on Facebook entitled Al-Ahram under Atallah is better. The group includes Safwat al-Sharif in his capacity as head of the Supreme Council of Journalism.
Atallah has a leading role in liberating Al-Ahram from the influence of its former head Ibrahim Nafei. In addition, Atallah writers 15 articles a week: Kol Sabah (each morning) on the back-page of Al-Ahram daily, Baid An Al-Seyassa (has nothing to do with politics) on the front page of Al-Ahram al-Masaei and Hadith al-Osboa (the week's speech) every Thursday. How can this package of articles be shortened in the name of a street? The name of Atallah could be launched on the street of journalism or the Supreme Council of Journalism or the Shura Council, but it is difficult to be launched on Al-Ahram. Prominent journalist Mohamed Hassanein Haykal, with his weight, left Al-Ahram when he was 49 years old and has not returned till now. Atallah staying in his post as chairman of Al-Ahram breaches the law. It is right that Ibrahim Nafei was chairman till he was 65 years old, but he was not a model to follow.
The Shura Council Speaker Safwat al-Sharif said that board chairmen of press institutions would not change. This means that Atallah would stay in his post although he is over 65!
Al-Sharif sees Atallah's experiment should be generalized on board chairmen of all national institutions. The law should not prevent rare talents from their daily creations. However, the law should be respected, and there is a big difference between the Supreme Council of Journalism and Giza Local Council. Al-Sharif sees that Atallah has what others do not. He prefers him to 1800 journalists in Al-Ahram and violates the law!
