FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, March 8, 2001

Media General Hosts Investor Conference at Its Tampa News Center To Showcase Convergence and Discuss Business Plans, Strategy, Outlook

TAMPA, Fla. — Media General (AMEX: MEG.A) is hosting an investor conference today at its Tampa News Center at which the company will showcase its media convergence strategy in action, provide an overview of the company's business strategy, and offer its perspective on current business conditions and the near-term outlook.

The Tampa News Center, which is home to Media General's Tampa Tribune, WFLA-TV and TBO.com, is about to complete its first year of operation. The News Center has attracted national attention as a model for media convergence, where print, broadcast and online media combine the depth of newspapers, the drama of television and the power of the Internet to better serve customers, communities and advertisers and, in turn, build shareholder value.

“By working together, our multimedia team has become the indispensable source of news, information and entertainment in the Tampa Bay region,” says J. Stewart Bryan III, Media General's chairman and chief executive. “In just one year they have learned to provide unsurpassed news coverage and unprecedented advertising opportunities.”

Media General is adapting its convergence model to five other regions where the company operates a newspaper, a television station and a joint Web site. In addition to Florida, these opportunities exist in Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina and South Alabama. In other markets, Media General plans to practice convergence by partnering with newspapers and television stations owned by other media companies.

Although many of these convergence efforts are just beginning, Bryan cites examples of how convergence has strengthened journalism, circulation, ratings, and advertising sales. By mid-2002, Media General will be using convergence to create competitive advantages for all of its major media properties, he says.

Convergence is one of four key long-term strategies of Media General's Publishing Division, said H. Graham Woodlief Jr., the division's president. The other three strategies are excellence in journalism, interactive media and regional clustering.

Much of Woodlief's presentation will focus on regional clustering, which is increasing the division's ability to share content, production facilities and management expertise. Clustering also creates platforms for developing regional advertising sales, building regional Web sites and establishing new regional products.

Woodlief also will outline several cost-cutting measures that the Publishing Division has implemented in rapid response to a difficult advertising environment. “A slow economy requires tough decisions,” he says, “particularly when you've already made the progress that Media General has over the past several years through re-engineering and other performance-improvement programs.”

Media General's Broadcast Division presentation also will address cost-cutting initiatives to offset a soft advertising environment. In addition, it will focus on efforts to increase ratings and develop new sources of revenue.

“Our approach to news, programming and marketing is primarily aimed at driving audience growth,” says James A. Zimmerman, the division's president. Zimmerman cites dramatic improvements at nine television stations that Media General purchased from Park Communications in 1997. “Our household ratings are up 16 percent,” he notes, “and our viewership by adults 25 to 54 – one of the most important selling demographics – is up 29 percent.”

Ratings growth continues to be a top priority at all Media General stations, but new revenue initiatives have taken on greater importance this year. “In a proactive effort to combat the lack of political and Olympic dollars in 2001, all of our general sales managers met last June and shared 22 revenue-generating ideas,” Zimmerman says. “These community-based projects, along with our Internet-based projects ... are projected to add $10 million in new revenues this year.”

Investors also will hear from Neal F. Fondren, president of Media General's Interactive Media Division, which the company launched on Jan. 1. “The new division is the cornerstone of the company's efforts to fully integrate Internet technologies into its corporate strategies,” Fondren says. “It will draw upon the strengths of Media General's newspapers, television stations and financial databases to provide online offerings that are vital to both individual and corporate customers.”

Fondren emphasizes the division's role in facilitating convergence throughout the company and its mandate to create interactive enterprises that are profitable. Projected 2001 revenues of $11 million are expected to increase 46 percent in 2002 and another 26 percent in 2003, when the division is projected to become cash-flow positive, Fondren says.

Following the Interactive Media presentation, Marshall N. Morton, Media General's chief financial officer, will review the company's financial results from 2000 and provide an outlook for 2001 and beyond.

Morton says that, as previously reported, 2000 income from continuing operations before income taxes was $103 million vs. $130 million in the previous year before an extraordinary item. Most of the difference was due to the gain on the sale of the company's Denver Post stock in 1999 and increased acquisition intangibles amortization in 2000. Morton's analysis also will provide new detail on 2000 results, including income from acquired television stations ($25 million); increased income from existing stations ($3.6 million); increased income from net acquisition activity in the Publishing Division ($6.2 million); and decreased income from existing operations in the Publishing Division ($7 million).

“Free cash flow from continuing operations increased 35 percent in 2000 compared with 1999,” Morton notes.

Turning to expectations for the current year, Morton forecasts revenue growth of approximately 10 percent, with expenses projected to increase 10 percent to 11 percent, including the results of acquisitions. Newsprint expense is expected to be up 20 percent, but Media General remains a net producer of newsprint through its 33 percent ownership in SP Newsprint Co.

Morton provides the following chart to support the company's 2001 forecast:

Capital expenditures for 2001 are budgeted at $99 million, compared with $43 million in 2000, principally reflecting investments needed for the Broadcast Division's FCC-required conversions to digital signals. The company expects capital spending to be on the order of $60 million in 2002.

Debt is currently about $800 million. The company said it is comfortable with debt to total capital in the range of 40 percent, and it currently stands at 41 percent.

Operating cash flow for 2001 is expected to increase 8 percent to 10 percent from 2000, however, net income will be down somewhat from 2000, primarily reflecting below-the-line items associated with acquisitions and the absence of interest income, Morton said. Also impacting results will be startup costs for the Interactive Media Division, which is forecasting a loss of $5.5 million in 2001.

“As we announced in our monthly revenues release last week, our January revenues were down significantly because of an extremely soft advertising environment,” Morton says. “We don't see a lot of improvement in this climate in the next few months.”

Media General will provide first-quarter earnings-per-share guidance to investors for the first time. “Because of lower divisional revenues, coupled with higher interest expense, higher intangibles amortization, Interactive Media Division startup costs, and the absence of interest income this year, we expect to be only a little better than breakeven in the first quarter,” Morton says. “Unless there is a strong resurgence during the second half, we would not expect net income to exceed $2 per share for the year.”

Commenting on the company's long-term outlook, Morton says, “Media General is managing its business for long-term shareholder value. While we have to navigate through near-term challenges, we expect the years 2002 and 2003 to produce significant increases in revenues and profits as a result of our strategic acquisitions and new divisional alignment.”

For More Information
All presentations from the conference are posted to the Investor Relations section of this site.

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. Media General'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 weeklies and 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.

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.