One assumes because the religions themselves don't refer to Jesus or Moses that way, but Islam DOES refer to Mohammed as "the Prophet Mohammed" or just "the Prophet" all the time.
I should point out that the media regularly refers to Jesus as "Jesus Christ", even though "Christ" is a title, not a surname. I'd say that partially because Christianity refers to Him that way, and partially because they don't realize it's not a surname.
Jesus Son of God is very common. Find that in the NY Times. Maybe on their story of Jesus in a bowl of urine and calling it art.
Or just throw in The Lamb to shake things up a little?
They're not interested in "shaking things up a little", at least not in that regard. Media style books exist to provide continuity and clarity.
Noticeably, they also always refer to the head of the Roman Catholic Church as "Pope Francis". Pope is a title, and his birth name is Jorge Mario Bergoglio
. "Francis" is his reign name, chosen when he became Pope, but I guarantee you that you'll never see a media article addressing him as Jorge Bergoglio.
Is the media now owned by Catholics, too?
Learn what an office title is versus what a prophet is, geesh.
I know what a prophet is, thanks. Islam actually recognizes quite a few prophets, but it has only one Prophet.
It's impossible to draw a complete analogy, because the two religious cultures are completely different. Catholics don't really have an ultimate human head of their religion for all time, nor do they attach the same veneration to any human being, even the Pope, that Muslims do to Muhammed. Because the religious culture is different, the addresses are different, too.
Nevertheless, the point still stands. Catholics specify a certain manner of address for the head of their church, and the media accepts it. Muslims specify a certain manner of address for the founder of their religion, and the media complies. Doesn't matter what you do or don't think a prophet is: that's still his title.
Not even sure why you're getting your panties in such a ruffle about this. What difference does it make? It might get you your jollies if the media was gratuitously insulting to Muslims, but it frankly wouldn't accomplish anything useful from a journalistic standpoint.
Would it make you feel better to know that the NY Times regularly refers to "the Apostle Paul" and "Paul the Apostle", rather than simply "Paul", when referring to the New Testament figure?