Chairman of the Shura Council (the Upper House of Egypt's Parliament) Safwat el-Sherif has called Monday for the media ethics code to be updated to keep up with the changes in Egypt and the recent constitutional amendments. "The ethics code for the Egyptian media should maintain freedom of expression, but should put an end to the feverish competition between TV programmes," el-Sherif told the council Monday. Monday's session turned into a heated debate as several MPs lashed out at the Ministry of Information over airing a live talk show on official Egyptian television. It had hosted an MP and a former judge, who insulted each other before the latter threw away his microphone and walked out of the studio. "This episode should be referred to the committee of culture and information to discuss what had happened and Minister of Information Anas el-Fiqi should attend this session," el-Sherif, an ex-information minister, advised. He added that this episode of the Misr el-Naharda (Egypt Today) show hurt the viewers' feelings and the talk show should be re-evaluated. Minister el-Fiqi had already referred the incident to his Ministry's Media Evaluation Committee to investigate the controversial episode of the popular show. "The Government will take the necessary decisions to prevent such an affair from taking place in the future," Minister of Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Mufied Shehab said. He added that there should be a commission to evaluate programmes on satellite channels to rectify any “moral or media” deviation. The incident in question on Misr el-Naharda occurred last Wednesday, when TV anchor Mahmoud Saad was hosting former chief of the Zamalek Sports Club Mortada Mansour and former Al-Ahly goalie and incumbent MP Ahmed Shobeir to settle a legal dispute between them, when Mansour stormed out of the studio.
