Released: 03/06/2008

SACRAMENTO, Calif., March 6 -- The McClatchy Company (NYSE: MNI) today named Mark Zieman president and publisher of The Kansas City Star.

Zieman previously served as the newspaper's editor and vice president where he directed the 290-person news staff and helped develop the paper's digital strategy. Since Jan. 28, he has held the additional title of interim publisher, replacing Mac Tully who left the paper to join MediaNews Group.

"Mark understands both the challenges and opportunities facing newspapers today," said Gary Pruitt, McClatchy's chairman and chief executive officer. "He is deeply committed to quality journalism and a future that includes print, digital and niche publications. He's a wonderful fit to lead The Kansas City Star."

Zieman, 47, has spent most of his career in The Kansas City Star newsroom, beginning with an editorial internship in 1982 while attending college at the University of Kansas. After graduating with a degree in journalism, Zieman joined the Houston bureau of The Wall Street Journal. He returned to The Kansas City Star as an investigative reporter in 1986 and rose through the newsroom management. He became projects editor in 1989, managing editor in 1992 and was named editor in 1997.

Under his stewardship, The Kansas City Star has won scores of national awards in virtually every area of journalism, including two George Polk awards; the Goldsmith Investigative Reporting Prize; several National Headliner Awards; numerous awards from the Society of News Design; and three Associated Press Sports Editors "Triple Crown" citations for the best sports section in the country, among many others.

As projects editor, Zieman directed the paper's examination of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that won the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for national reporting.

In recent years, Zieman has steered the newsroom online aggressively, embracing video, blogs and multimedia storytelling. In 2007, in its first full year under McClatchy ownership, The Kansas City Star's website, KansasCity.com, grew average monthly unique visitors by nearly 800,000, and annual unique visitors by nearly 7 million -- the best performance in McClatchy.

"Mark is a terrific leader who has dedicated most of his life to serving the Kansas City region," said Bob Weil, McClatchy vice president, operations, who oversees the company's newspapers in the Midwest. "He is uniquely qualified to guide The Kansas City Star to even greater success."

Zieman was born in El Dorado, Kan., a small prairie town in the southeast part of the state. He grew up in Kansas City reading The Kansas City Star and the novels written by one of the paper's most famous employees -- Ernest Hemingway.

"The Star has one of the great histories of any paper in America, but I think its future is equally bright," said Zieman. "We're reaching more readers than ever before in our history. We're offering our advertisers more ways to reach that audience. And we have some of the most talented employees in the industry. That's a winning long-term strategy for any business."

Zieman has held several leadership roles in the community and the newspaper industry. He is a trustee of the William Allen White Foundation at the University of Kansas; a member of the Helzberg School of Management Advisory Board at Rockhurst University in Kansas City; and served on the board of the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism at the University of Maryland. He has twice served as a juror for the Pulitzer Prizes. He is a member of the American Society of Newspaper Editors, Investigative Reporters and Editors, and was a board member of the Associated Press Managing Editors association.

In addition to his journalism degree from the University of Kansas, Zieman holds an Executive MBA from Rockhurst University.

He is married to Kansas City Star columnist Rhonda Chriss Lokeman. The couple have four daughters.

About McClatchy

The McClatchy Company is the third largest newspaper company in the United States, with 30 daily newspapers, approximately 50 non-dailies, and direct marketing and direct mail operations. McClatchy also operates leading local websites in each of its markets which extend its audience reach. The websites offer users information, comprehensive news, advertising, e-commerce and other services. Together with its newspapers and direct marketing products, these interactive operations make McClatchy the leading local media company in each of its premium high growth markets. McClatchy-owned newspapers include The Miami Herald, The Sacramento Bee, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, The Kansas City Star, The Charlotte Observer, and The (Raleigh) News & Observer.

McClatchy also has a portfolio of premium digital assets. The company owns and operates McClatchy Interactive, an interactive operation that provides websites with content, publishing tools and software development. McClatchy owns 14.4% of CareerBuilder, the nation's largest online job site, and owns 25.6% of Classified Ventures, a newspaper industry partnership that offers two of the nation's premier classified websites: the auto website, cars.com, and the rental site, apartments.com. McClatchy is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol MNI.

SOURCE The McClatchy Company

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