FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, June 15, 2005

Media General Reports May Revenues; Provides Second-Quarter Earnings Guidance

RICHMOND, Va. – Media General, Inc. (NYSE: MEG) today reported that total revenues for May 2005 increased 3 percent, to $72.6 million, from May 2004. On a divisional basis, Publishing revenues increased 3.8 percent, Broadcast revenues were up 0.5 percent, and Interactive Media Division revenues rose 43.8 percent.

“We were pleased with our May revenue performance, which reflected solid growth in Publishing and healthy gains in Local and National time sales in Broadcast,” said J. Stewart Bryan III, chairman and chief executive. “In Publishing, Retail advertising continued to show improvement and Classified, while not as strong as previous months, reflected solid year-over-year growth. In Broadcast, new business development initiatives continued to drive strong Local revenue growth and helped to overcome the absence of Political revenues and lower automotive advertising.”

Newspaper advertising revenues increased $1.8 million, or 5.1 percent, over last May, and reflected a 6.2 percent gain at the Richmond Times-Dispatch and a 4.7 percent increase at The Tampa Tribune. Including revenues from the company’s newspaper Web sites, publishing revenues increased 4.6 percent and newspaper advertising revenues rose 6 percent for the month.

Classified revenues increased $800,000, or 5.2 percent, compared with May 2004. This gain, one of the smallest year-over-year monthly increases in the last two years, mostly reflected softness at The Tampa Tribune, where Classified revenues were up 3.4 percent. Employment advertising in Tampa continued strong, while automotive classifieds fell below expectations. Classified revenues increased 6.8 percent at the Richmond Times-Dispatch, 9.4 percent at the Winston-Salem Journal, and 4.4 percent at the company’s Community newspapers. Including online advertising, Classified revenues increased 7.2 percent in May.

Employment linage increased 15.6 percent at the Richmond Times-Dispatch, 10 percent at The Tampa Tribune and 4.4 percent at the Winston-Salem Journal. Automotive linage was down at all three metros, while real estate linage was higher.

Retail revenues increased $940,000, or 5.7 percent, spurred by positive results at The Tampa Tribune, which were 13.4 percent ahead of last year. Tampa’s gains were due to strength in the financial, department store, entertainment and electronic categories as well as increased color revenues. Retail revenues at the Richmond Times-Dispatch increased 1.8 percent, and reflected gains in the financial and grocery store categories. The Community newspapers reported a 2.1 percent increase in Retail advertising. Total Retail preprint revenue was up 1 percent over last year.

National revenues were essentially even with last May. Higher national revenues at the Richmond Times-Dispatch, resulting primarily from an increase in preprint revenue, were offset by lower automotive and travel advertising at The Tampa Tribune.

Circulation revenues were $300,000, or 4.4 percent, below last year, mostly due to a change in wholesale rates to independent carriers and some volume declines. For May, Daily circulation volume increased at 11 Media General newspapers, while Sunday circulation was up at eight newspapers.

In the Broadcast Division, gross time sales declined $170,000, or 0.6 percent, from last May. Local and National transactional sales improved, increasing $1.7 million and substantially offsetting a $1.9 million decline in Political spot sales.

Local time sales increased $1.1 million, or 6.6 percent, reflecting gains in the furniture, financial, home improvement, grocery store and entertainment categories that more than offset declines in the automotive and the corporate categories.

National time sales rose $660,000, or 7.4 percent, primarily from increases in the telecommunications, drug stores and entertainment categories that more than offset decreases in automotive and financial advertising.

Interactive Media Division revenues rose 43.8 percent to $1.5 million. This growth was driven by a 51 percent increase in Classified advertising, reflecting continued strong liner upsell activity and special product revenue. Local advertising was up 49 percent.

Outlook
Media General expects earnings per share for the second quarter of 2005 to be within the current range of analyst estimates of 77 cents per share to 84 cents per share, excluding a gain on the sale of the company’s 20 percent interest in the Denver Post that is expected to be approximately 78 cents per share. The company earned 78 cents per share in the 2004 second quarter.

The company plans to release second-quarter earnings on July 12, 2005, before the market opens.

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 a diversified communications company operating leading newspapers, television stations and online enterprises, primarily in the Southeastern United States.  The company’s publishing assets include three metropolitan newspapers, The Tampa Tribune, the Richmond Times-Dispatch, and the Winston-Salem Journal; 22 daily community newspapers in Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, Alabama and South Carolina; and more than 100 weekly newspapers and other publications. The company’s broadcasting assets include 26 network-affiliated television stations that 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 assets include more than 50 online enterprises that are associated with its newspapers and television stations. Media General also owns a 33 percent interest in SP Newsprint Company.

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

Media Contact:
Ray Kozakewicz
(804) 649-6748

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