Lynn Dickerson Named New McClatchy Vice President, Operations

SACRAMENTO, Calif., March 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Lynn Dickerson today was named vice president, operations, by The McClatchy Company .

Dickerson has served as publisher and president of McClatchy's Modesto Bee newspaper in California since May 2000. With her promotion, Dickerson joins McClatchy's two other vice presidents for operations - Frank Whittaker and Bob Weil - in overseeing expanded company operations resulting from the announced acquisition of Knight-Ridder, Inc. Dickerson will assume her new post effective upon closing of the Knight Ridder acquisition.

"In Lynn Dickerson, we have a talented and seasoned newspaper executive who will work closely with me to help chart McClatchy's exciting future," said Gary Pruitt, McClatchy's chairman and chief executive officer. "I am pleased that we have an outstanding executive like Lynn ready to step into this strategic role."

All three vice presidents, operations, will report directly to Pruitt. Dickerson will oversee many of the company's newspapers in the South. They include: The News & Observer and The Charlotte Observer in North Carolina; the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in Texas; The Macon Telegraph and the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer in Georgia; The Sun Herald in Biloxi, Miss.; and five South Carolina papers: The Sun News in Myrtle Beach, The State in Columbia, The Island Packet in Hilton Head, The Beaufort Gazette and The Herald in Rock Hill.

"Opportunities like this come along only once in a lifetime. I am honored to have an important role in assimilating the fine newspapers we are acquiring into the McClatchy culture of good journalism and good business," said Dickerson. "I look forward to working with the talented employees from Knight Ridder as well as my good friends and colleagues already in McClatchy."

Whittaker will now oversee The Sacramento Bee, The Fresno Bee, The Modesto Bee, the Merced Sun Star; and San Luis Obispo Tribune, all in California; the Miami Herald and Bradenton Herald, in Florida; the Lexington Herald (KY) and the Belleville News-Democrat (IL).

Weil will now oversee the Minneapolis Star Tribune (MN), the Kansas City Star (MO); The Wichita Eagle (KS); the Anchorage Daily News (AK); the Boise Idaho Statesman (ID); and the Tacoma News Tribune, the Tri-City Herald, the Olympian, and the Bellingham Herald, all in Washington.

Knight Ridder Digital operations and the Centre Daily Times newspaper in State College, PA will report to McClatchy Vice President, Interactive, Chris Hendricks.

Dickerson, 48, is a native of Texas and a graduate of Texas A&M University, where she earned a bachelor's degree in business administration.

She began her newspaper career in sales. In 1983, after serving as advertising director of the Lewisville, Texas, Daily Leader, she was appointed its publisher. That paper was bought by Harte-Hanks Communications Inc. in 1986. Six years later, Dickerson became publisher and president of Harte-Hanks Community Newspapers, a small group of daily and weekly newspapers headquartered in Dallas.

In 1996, Dickerson moved to Wichita Falls, Texas, to become publisher and president of the Times Record News, which is owned by the E.W. Scripps Company. She worked there until joining McClatchy and The Modesto Bee in 2000.

Dickerson is a board member and president elect of the California Newspaper Publishers Association. She is a past president of the Texas Daily Newspaper Association, just the second woman president in the organization's history.

Dickerson and her husband, Ron, have two sons, Ross, 21, and Ryan, 17.

The McClatchy Company, headquartered in Sacramento, CA, is a leading newspaper and internet publisher. It publishes 12 daily and 17 non-daily newspapers located in western coastal states, North and South Carolina, and the Twin Cities of Minneapolis/St. Paul. McClatchy has daily circulation of 1.4 million and Sunday circulation of 1.8 million. McClatchy's newspapers include, among others, the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, the Sacramento Bee, the Fresno Bee and the Modesto Bee in California, the News & Observer (Raleigh, NC), the News Tribune (Tacoma, WA), the Anchorage Daily News and Vida En Ell Valle, a bilingual Spanish weekly newspaper distributed throughout California's Central Valley. McClatchy also operates leading local websites in each of its daily newspaper markets, offering readers information, comprehensive news, advertising, e-commerce and other services, and owns and operates McClatchy Interactive, an interactive operation that provides websites with content, publishing tools and software development. McClatchy is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol (MNI).

Today, The McClatchy Company announced they signed a definitive agreement under which McClatchy will acquire Knight-Ridder, Inc. Knight Ridder publishes 32 daily newspapers in 29 U.S. markets, with a readership of 8.5 million daily and 11.0 million Sunday. It has Web sites in all of its markets and a variety of investments in internet and technology companies. It publishes a growing portfolio of targeted publications and maintains investments in two newsprint companies. The company's internet operation, Knight Ridder Digital, develops and manages the company's online properties. It is the founder and operator of Real Cities (http://www.realcities.com/), the largest national network of city and regional web sites in more than 110 U.S. markets.

Contact: Elaine Lintecum 916-321-1846