FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, May 18, 2001

Media General Shareholders Elect Directors at the Company's Annual Meeting

RICHMOND, Va. — Media General shareholders today elected nine directors to one-year terms at the company's annual meeting. Two new directors, Thompson L. Rankin and Walter E. Williams, were elected to replace Robert P. Black and Roger H. Mudd, who are stepping down from the board due to mandatory retirement provisions in the company's by-laws.

Rankin, 60, retired in 1997 as president and chief executive officer of Tampa-based Lykes Bros. In that capacity, he managed a highly diversified corporation with extensive interests in citrus, shipping and cattle. Williams, 64, is chairman of the Department of Economics at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. He also is a nationally recognized newspaper columnist and broadcast commentator.

Re-elected as directors were J. Stewart Bryan III, Charles A. Davis, Robert V. Hatcher Jr., John G. Medlin Jr., Marshall N. Morton, Wyndham Robertson and Henry L. Valentine II.

Shareholders also approved amendments to Media General's 1995 long-term incentive plan, and they were briefed on the company's performance by Bryan, Media General's chairman and chief executive officer, and Morton, the company's senior vice president and chief financial officer.

Bryan highlighted several transforming events that have occurred in the past year. The company sold Garden State Paper Co. and expanded its Broadcast and Publishing divisions. It launched an Interactive Media Division, and it announced plans to relocate its Broadcast Division to Richmond.

"Since 1995, we have focused on our mission of becoming a leading provider of news, information and entertainment in the Southeast by continually building our position of strength in strategic markets," Bryan said. "The actions we have taken in the past five years, we believe, have enabled us to accomplish what we set out to do. We now intend to become THE leading provider in the region."

Bryan also outlined Media General's convergence efforts in six markets where the company owns a television station, a Web site and a daily newspaper. By combining the unique strengths of all three platforms in each market, Media General is creating powerful multimedia franchises to serve readers, viewers and advertisers.

"As we grow and converge our multimedia resources in the Southeast, we will create more choices for our customers, a higher standard of journalism for the communities that we serve, new opportunities for our employees, and greater value for our shareholders," Bryan said.

Commenting on current business conditions, Morton said the weak advertising climate has persisted in the second quarter. He reiterated the company's previously announced forecast that second-quarter earnings from continuing operations will be in the range of 50 cents per share. Full-year earnings per share are not expected to exceed $2 "unless there is a strong resurgence in ad spending in the second half," he said.

Complete remarks from Bryan and Morton – along with other annual meeting highlights – will be available by 2 p.m. today on the company's Web site at www.mediageneral.com.

About Media General
Media General is an independent, publicly owned communications company situated primarily in the Southeast with interests in newspapers, television stations, interactive media and diversified information services. The company's publishing assets include The Tampa Tribune, the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the Winston-Salem Journal and 22 other daily newspapers in Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, Alabama and South Carolina, as well as nearly 100 other periodicals and a 20 percent interest in The Denver Post. Media General's 26 network-affiliated television stations reach more than 30 percent of the television households in the Southeast, and nearly 8 percent of those in the United States. The company's extensive interactive media offerings include more than 50 online enterprises. Media General also has a 33 percent interest in SP Newsprint Co., which operates newsprint mills in Dublin, Ga., and Newberg, Ore.

Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to various risks and uncertainties and should be understood in the context of the company's publicly available reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Media General's future performance could differ materially from its current expectations.