Media General's WJAR-TV in Providence Wins National Murrow Award

RICHMOND, Va., June 16, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Media General, Inc. (NYSE: MEG), a multimedia provider of broadcast television, digital media and print products, announced today that its Providence, R.I., NBC affiliate WJAR-TV has won a national Edward R. Murrow Award for outstanding achievement in electronic journalism. The annual awards of the Radio-Television News Directors Association (RTNDA) are among the nation's most prestigious broadcast journalism awards.

The station was among three Media General television stations that won 10 regional Murrow awards in April. It is WJAR's third National Murrow Award since 2008. In addition to WJAR gaining two regional awards, Media General's station WSAV, Savannah, Ga., won 7 regional awards and WSPA, Spartanburg, S.C., won 1 regional award.

"WJAR is the long-standing number one broadcast television station in all of Rhode Island and southern Massachusetts," said Marshall N. Morton, president and chief executive officer of Media General. "Winning a National Murrow award for the third time in three years is a testament to the outstanding job WJAR does in serving the news and information needs of its local community," Mr. Morton said.

WJAR received the Murrow honor in the category of Video Breaking News Coverage for its reporting on the local area's historic flooding in 2010. In March 2010, extensive rains forced many area rivers to overflow their banks. Countless homes and businesses were destroyed. Roads were impassable for days. Bridges were washed out. WJAR's commitment to coverage of the unprecedented weather event began with precise Storm Team 10 forecasts leading up to the flooding, escalated to live wall-to-wall reports at the height of the disaster and continued for months as the clean-up and rebuilding began.

WJAR solidified its position as the dominant news source in southern New England during the recently-completed May sweeps period based on preliminary data from Nielsen. WJAR had the most watched newscasts at 5 a.m., 5:30 a.m., 6 a.m., noon, 5 p.m., 5:30 p.m., 6 p.m., 7 p.m. and 11 p.m.

The RTNDA has been honoring outstanding achievements in electronic journalism with the Edward R. Murrow Awards since 1971.  Murrow Award recipients demonstrate the spirit of excellence that pioneer reporter Edward R. Murrow made a standard for the broadcast news profession.

About Media General

Media General is a leading provider of news, information and entertainment across multiple media platforms, serving consumers and advertisers in strong local markets, primarily in the Southeastern United States. The company is transforming itself over time to a digital media model, while continuing to effectively manage its larger, cash producing broadcast television and print platforms. Media General's operations are organized in five geographic market segments and a sixth segment that includes the company's interactive advertising services and certain other operations. The company's operations include 18 network-affiliated television stations and their associated websites and 23 newspapers and their associated websites. Media General operates three digital media advertising services companies:  Blockdot, which specializes in interactive Entertainment and advergaming technologies; DealTaker.com, a coupon and shopping website; and NetInformer, a leading provider of wireless media and mobile marketing services.

SOURCE Media General, Inc.