Sources at PBS told this newspaper that the directive was contained in a memorandum sent to staff at the PBS News Centre by the management last month.

This official name was adopted when Eddie Fenech Adami was sworn in as President on 4 April. He had been called “Eddie” for the last 28 years when he was Nationalist Party leader.

Even the Nationalist Party daily newspaper In-Nazzjon continued to refer to Dr Fenech Adami as “Eddie” after he was elected President.

However, it seems that this directive has not always been followed.

For instance, a report on the President’s visit to Rome in the PBS eight o’clock news a couple of weeks ago had an introduction referring to him as Edward Fenech Adami while the rest of the report mentioned him as Eddie Fenech Adami.

However, sources said that no disciplinary action was taken against staff who did not use the official name.

Contacted by The Malta Independent on Sunday, Fr Joe Borg, chairman of the recently-appointed PBS editorial board, confirmed that the management of the PBS News Centre had issued such a directive “to have consistency in the manner in which the President is called”.

Fr Borg said that when the

editorial board asked why the President was being referred to in that manner, it was told that “it was the Office of the President itself which had expressed the wish that references to the President are made in that manner”.

However, Fr Borg said that these references to the President of Malta as Dr Edward Fenech Adami started being made in the news on TVM “before the Editorial Board started functioning”.

The appointment of the PBS editorial board was announced by Minister for Government Investments and Information Technology Austin Gatt on 12 May.

Also on the board are Prof. Dominic Fenech and Dr Mary Ann Lauri.