FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, Nov. 9, 2001

Media General Publishing Division Promotes Heard to Vice President, Sales and Marketing

RICHMOND, Va. — Media General's Publishing Division is promoting Jeffrey L. Heard to vice president, sales and marketing, effective Jan. 1, 2002. In this newly established position, Heard will ensure that all advertising, marketing and circulation needs are met for the division.

"Jeff's unique motivational abilities will help us to capitalize on regional sales initiatives that are showing promise in several of our newspaper clusters," said H. Graham Woodlief, president of the Publishing Division. " We are pleased to have someone with his strong background to help our division realize its full potential in advertising and circulation growth in the Southeast."

Heard joined the Publishing Division in January of this year as vice president of its North Carolina community newspaper group. He came to Media General from Community Newspaper Holdings Inc. of Birmingham, Ala., where he was vice president of marketing. Heard began his newspaper career in the circulation department of the Albany (Ga.) Herald, where he held a number of positions before becoming assistant circulation manager of the Gaston Gazette in Gastonia, N.C.

In 1995, Heard was named director of marketing for Thomson South Georgia, which included daily newspapers in Americus, Cordele, Moultrie, Thomasville, Tifton and Valdosta. He later was promoted to chief operating officer of Thomson South Georgia and publisher of the Valdosta Daily Times.

Heard attended Brewton Parker College and participated in the executive leadership program at Harvard Business School. He has been active in civic affairs, serving on the boards of the Chamber of Commerce, United Way and Red Cross.

About Media General
Media General (NYSE: MEG) is an independent 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.