Media General Names Thomas A. Silvestri President and Publisher of the Richmond Times-Dispatch RICHMOND, Va., Oct. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Media General, Inc. today announced that company veteran Thomas A. Silvestri has been named president and publisher of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, effective Jan. 1, 2005. Silvestri, 49, will succeed J. Stewart Bryan III, 66, who has served as publisher since 1978. Bryan will remain chairman and chief executive officer of Media General, Inc., owner of the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Silvestri will become the first publisher outside the Bryan family since 1887. In addition, Albert T. "Tappy" August, III, 64, president and general manager of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, plans to retire at the end of 2004. August has managed the newspaper's day-to-day operations since 1994. Silvestri will assume responsibility for all operations when he becomes president and publisher, and the general manager position will not be filled. Bryan succeeded his father, D. Tennant Bryan, as publisher of The Richmond News Leader and the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Media General's oldest newspaper, in 1978. A predecessor version of the newspaper, the Daily Times, originated in 1850, and it came under the ownership of the Bryan family in 1887. "When I succeeded my father in 1990 as chairman and chief executive of Media General, I continued to serve as publisher of the Richmond Times- Dispatch as we planned its merger with The Richmond News Leader into a single morning publication, which was accomplished in 1992. After the two newspapers were successfully combined, I continued in the publisher's role but spent more time and energy on Media General activity. "It is now time for the next generation of leadership to take the Richmond Times-Dispatch to new heights. We are delighted to entrust the newspaper's leadership to Tom Silvestri, a senior media executive with substantial experience on both the news and business sides of our operations. "I also want to congratulate Tappy August on a distinguished career as a leader in the newspaper industry and in the Richmond community. I thank him for 40 years of service and wish him all the best in retirement. Tappy has done an outstanding job leading the Times-Dispatch through a period of significant change and growth," said Bryan. August said, "It has been my express privilege to work with the Bryan family at both the Richmond Times-Dispatch and The Richmond News Leader, and it has been a pleasure to be a part of providing our newspapers to the Richmond public each day. Throughout my career, I have been fortunate to enjoy the benefits of working with many talented leaders, advisors, colleagues and friends within the Richmond newspapers and Media General, in our community and throughout the newspaper industry." According to Graham Woodlief, president of Media General's Publishing Division, "I, too, thank Tappy for his leadership and service to our newspapers. As we look to the future, Tom Silvestri has demonstrated leadership in the knowledge and understanding of the media business and he is a strong motivator of people. His experience with our community newspapers, as well as his past experience at the Richmond Times-Dispatch, will be very valuable as he takes the helm of our second largest metropolitan newspaper." Commenting on his new opportunity, Silvestri said, "I'm excited and fortunate to be rejoining the many talented people of the Richmond Times- Dispatch. I look forward to working collaboratively to advance an already successful newspaper as we focus on readership growth and continue our strong community involvement. I have enjoyed the camaraderie of our community newspapers, where we've built an enterprising team, and I wish them all the best with their continued success." Silvestri has served since Jan. 1, 2002, as president of Media General's community newspapers, which include 20 dailies and several weeklies, as well as oversight of Virginia Business magazine. He joined Media General in 1982 at the Richmond Times-Dispatch, where he served as an editor for 16 years after moving through a series of front-line editing and management positions. He led the launch of Metro Business in 1986 and oversaw the merger of the business news staffs of the Times-Dispatch and News Leader. In 1998 Silvestri was promoted to director of news synergy and editor of the Media General News Bank for the Publishing Division. In that role, he developed a shared-content network for the company's newsrooms and fostered a spirit of cooperation and partnership among the company's daily and weekly newspapers. In 2000 he was promoted to vice president of community newspapers and then became senior vice president of community newspapers. Before joining Media General, Silvestri was a reporter and editor at the Gannett Westchester (N.Y.) Newspapers. Silvestri received a Bachelor of Arts from Pace University and holds a Master in Business Administration degree from Virginia Commonwealth University. He is a frequent discussion leader for the American Press Institute, the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association (SNPA), the Virginia Press Association (VPA) and other journalism organizations. He is past president of the VCU School of Business Alumni Board and the Virginia Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He serves as co-chairman of the VPA Professional Development Committee and chairman of SNPA's Education for Journalists Committee. He is a 1997 graduate of Leadership Metro Richmond and a former board member of the Carillon Civic Association. He and his wife, Sue Kurzman, live in Richmond. August, a graduate of Randolph-Macon College, joined Richmond Newspapers in 1964 in the classified advertising department. He served in a number of management positions in the advertising and circulation departments and became vice president and business manager in 1989. He was appointed senior vice president and general manager of the Richmond Times-Dispatch in 1993 and named president a year later. August has served as chairman of the United Way of Greater Richmond and Petersburg, president of Sales & Marketing Executives of Richmond, and he was a graduate of the 1993 class of Leadership Metro Richmond. He has served as a board member for the Greater Richmond Chapter of the American Red Cross, Better Business Bureau of Central Virginia, Children's Museum of Richmond, CityCelebrations, Greater Richmond Chamber of Commerce, Greater Richmond Chamber Foundation, Heart of Virginia Council Boy Scouts of America, Metropolitan Richmond Sports Backers and the Richmond Symphony. Within the newspaper industry, he has served on the boards of International Newspaper Advertising & Marketing Executives, Mid-Atlantic Circulation Managers Association, Mid-Atlantic Newspaper Advertising and Marketing Association, and Southern Newspaper Publishers Association. He has also been a member of the Newspaper Association of America Marketing Committee, Newspaper National Network Sales Advisory Committee and the Advertising Club of Richmond. August is a recipient of the 1995 Sales & Marketing Executives of Richmond Top Management Award and the 2000 United Way Community Excellence for Volunteerism Award. He and his wife, Lois, have a son and a daughter. 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. DATASOURCE: Media General, Inc. CONTACT: Investor, Lou Anne J. Nabhan, +1-804-649-6103 or Media, Ray Kozakewicz, +1-804-649-6748, both of Media General, Inc. Web site: http://www.mediageneral.com/

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