Eagle/Transcript owner settles anti-trust suit to clear Hearst investment; citizens on editorial boards

MediaNews Group Inc., which owns The Berkshire Eagle, The North Adams Transcript, the Bennington Banner, the Advocate and other New England papers, has settled a private anti-trust lawsuit brought in San Francisco which had blocked an equity investment by the Hearst Corp. in the nation's fourth-largest newspaper company. Hearst owns the Albany Times-Union.

Part of the settlement, according to Media News, is an agreement to put a citizen on the editorial boards of each of its Bay Area newspapers.

The news release from MediaNews is printed below:

Contact for MediaNews Group, Inc.:
JOSEPH (Jody) J. LODOVIC, IV
President,MediaNews Group, Inc.
Phone: (303) 954-1619
jlodovic@medianewsgroup.com

MediaNews Group Announces Settlement of Lawsuit

DENVER, April 25, 2007 -- MediaNews Group, Inc. today announced a settlement of all issues raised in the lawsuit brought by Clinton Reilly relating to Hearst.s investment in the non-Bay Area business of MediaNews and California Newspapers Partnership's acquisition of the San Jose Mercury News and Contra Costa Times. California Newspapers Partnership is 54.23 percent owned and controlled by MediaNews. Terms of the settlement were not released.

As part of the settlement, Hearst and MediaNews agreed to make certain changes to the terms of the transaction. Hearst and MediaNews had already elected to make most of these changes during the course of the Hart-Scott-Rodino review by the Department of Justice. The changes have no material effect on Hearst's investment in the non-Bay Area assets of MediaNews.

While the Department of Justice continues to review the transaction, MediaNews is optimistic that the Hearst investment in MediaNews will be allowed to proceed in the very near future.

"We are excited to put this chapter behind us," said Joseph Lodovic, president of MediaNews Group. "Once it became clear that Reilly and MediaNews shared similar views regarding the vibrancy of local newspapers, editorial independence and diversity of editorial opinions, a settlement seemed a real possibility. Our dialogue resulted in some good ideas, and we agreed to put some of those ideas in place, including the appointment of a citizen to each of our San Francisco Bay Area newspaper editorial boards," added Lodovic.

About MediaNews Group, Inc.

MediaNews is the nation.s fourth largest newspaper company, with headquarters in Denver, CO. MediaNews Group and its affiliated companies publish 57 daily newspapers and approximately 120 non-daily publications in 13 states with daily and Sunday circulation of approximately 2.6 million and 3.0 million, respectively. In addition, MediaNews Group owns a CBS affiliate in Anchorage, Alaska and four radio stations in Texas. MediaNews Group maintains web sites for all of its daily newspapers and an umbrella site, newschoice.com.