FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, September 15, 2004

Media General Reports August Revenues, Updates Third-Quarter Earnings Guidance

RICHMOND, Va. – Media General, Inc. (NYSE: MEG) today reported August 2004 revenues of $69.9 million, a 6.4 percent increase compared with $65.7 million in August 2003. Publishing Division total revenues increased 3.4 percent, Broadcast Division total revenues rose 10.7 percent, and Interactive Media Division revenues were up 31.1 percent.

“Media General’s increase in total revenues for the month is primarily the result of robust political advertising, very strong Olympics advertising on our five NBC affiliates, and a continuation of the strong upward trend in help-wanted classified advertising,” said J. Stewart Bryan III, chairman and chief executive. “In the Publishing Division, we lost advertising revenues to Hurricane Charley, and experienced lower than expected revenues in retail and national advertising.”

Newspaper advertising revenues increased $1.4 million, or 4.2 percent, compared with last year. When online revenues from Media General’s newspaper Web sites are included, as they are in many peer companies, total publishing revenues increased 3.8 percent for the month and newspaper advertising revenues rose 4.7 percent.

Media General estimates that The Tampa Tribune lost $400,000 in revenues in August as the result of Hurricane Charley. Advertising volumes decreased as advertisers prepared for the storm, but because the hurricane did not have the anticipated direct impact on Tampa, the need for after-storm advertising, which normally has the potential to offset lost revenues, was greatly diminished.

Classified advertising revenue increased $1.1 million, or 7.8 percent, compared to last year as most markets continued to see solid improvement in employment advertising. Employment advertising linage at the company’s three metro newspapers increased 18 percent year-over-year. Employment linage was up 18 percent at The Tampa Tribune, 17 percent at the Richmond Times-Dispatch, and 19 percent at the Winston-Salem Journal. Employment classified gains were partially offset by lower automotive advertising in Winston-Salem and Richmond, while Tampa saw solid growth in automotive advertising.

Retail revenues were down only $45,000 for the month. While the company’s Northern Virginia, Winston-Salem and North Carolina community markets all saw solid gains, the Tampa market, and to a lesser extent the Richmond market, felt the unfavorable impact of weakness in the department store and other categories.

Preprint revenues showed solid growth and were above last year by $268,000, or 4.3 percent. The majority of this growth occurred at the company’s Florida newspapers.

National revenues declined $226,000, or 9.1 percent, principally due to lower telecommunications advertising.

Circulation revenues increased $41,000, or 0.6 percent, primarily the result of rate increases in many markets over the last nine to twelve months.

In the Broadcast Division, gross time sales increased $3.3 million, or 14.2 percent, reflecting very strong political advertising and benefiting as well from advertising for the Summer Olympics.

Political revenues for the month were $3.5 million compared with $847,000 last year. Most of the political dollars in August were derived from U.S. Senate races in Florida, South Carolina and North Carolina, presidential campaign advertising in Florida, Alabama, Iowa and Virginia, and issues spending in Florida, South Carolina and North Carolina.

Advertisers spent $5 million at Media General’s NBC stations during the Summer Olympics, and the revenues were divided evenly between the Local and National categories. Overall for the month, Local time sales were just slightly below last year and reflected declines in fast-food and department store advertising that more than offset gains in services and automotive. Lower Local time sales also reflected the heavy political spending supplanting some non-political advertisers.

National time sales increased by $700,000, or 8.5 percent, driven by gains in the automotive, services, telecommunications and financial categories, which more than offset declines in entertainment, fast food and drug stores.

Interactive Media Division revenues increased 31.1 percent to $1.1 million, driven by a 38.7 percent increase in Classified advertising. Tampa Bay Online did an outstanding job in the month of August serving viewer’s needs for hurricane information and served nearly 2.2 million unique visitors for the month compared with 960,000 unique visitors in August 2003.

Outlook
Media General expects to report third-quarter earnings per share within the range of current analyst estimates, ranging from 64 cents per share to 69 cents per share. Media General reported earnings per share of 49 cents for the third quarter of 2003, excluding the effect of an accounting change and discontinued operations.

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.

About Media General
Media General is an independent communications company situated primarily in the Southeast with interests in newspapers, television stations and interactive media. 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 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.

Investor Contact:
Lou Anne Nabhan
(804) 649-6103

Media Contact:
Ray Kozakewicz
(804) 649-6748

Charts follow:
Revenue Report
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