FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, April 2, 2001

Media General Nominates New Directors

RICHMOND, Va. — Media General announced today that Thompson L. Rankin and Walter E. Williams have been nominated to its board of directors and will stand for election at the company's annual shareholders' meeting on May 18. They were nominated to replace Robert P. Black, 73, and Roger H. Mudd, 72, who are retiring from the board due to mandatory retirement provisions in the company's by-laws.

"Bob Black and Roger Mudd have contributed considerably to our deliberations during the past several years, and we shall miss them," said J. Stewart Bryan III, Media General's chairman and chief executive. "We are delighted, however, that Tom Rankin and Walter Williams have agreed to serve on our board. As a director of a large Florida corporation and former chairman of Lykes Bros. Inc., Tom is very knowledgeable about Florida, where we have such vital operations. As a respected economist and a newspaper columnist, Walter will bring important viewpoints to our discussion and decisions."

Rankin, 60, retired as president and chief executive officer of Tampa-based Lykes Bros. in 1997. In that capacity, Rankin managed a highly diversified corporation with extensive interests in the citrus, shipping and cattle industries. Rankin served on the Media General board from 1985 to 1994, and he is currently a director of TECO Energy Inc., a multibillion-dollar gas and electric utility headquartered in Tampa.

Williams, 64, is chairman of the Department of Economics at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. He also is a nationally renowned newspaper columnist and broadcast commentator. His syndicated column runs in approximately 160 newspapers, and he frequently appears on television shows such as "Nightline" and "Face the Nation." Williams also has authored six books.

The nominations of Rankin and Williams were announced in Media General's proxy statement, which was mailed to shareholders today along with the company's 2000 Annual Report.

The annual report highlights the company's new divisional alignment, including strategic updates on Media General's Publishing, Broadcast and Interactive Media divisions. With the sale of the company's Newsprint and Cable Television divisions, Media General is well-positioned to capitalize on its strategies of southeastern expansion and media convergence. The annual report states, however, that all three divisions are facing a softer advertising environment in 2001. Additionally, the Publishing Division is contending with higher newsprint prices, while the Broadcast Division is working to replace revenue from Olympic and election advertising. The Interactive Media Division will incur significant startup expenses this year and next year, but the company expects the new division to become profitable in 2003.

Media General's 2000 Annual Report and proxy statement will be available on the investor relations section of company's Web site on or about April 5. The address is 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.