News Release Details

DAVENPORT, Iowa--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 30, 2007--Lee Enterprises, Incorporated (NYSE:LEE), announced today that paid daily circulation remained strong for the six-month period ended March 31, 2007, with 31 of 53 audited newspapers, including the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, reporting growth.

Fas-Fax reports to the Audit Bureau of Circulations totaled a 0.3 percent decline daily and 1.3 percent decline Sunday compared with a year ago.

Nationally, newspapers reported average decreases of 2.1 percent daily and 3.1 percent Sunday.

Over the last six years, from March 2001 to March 2007, using comparable data for each reporting period, circulation among Lee newspapers has declined at an annual average rate of 0.1 percent daily and 0.5 percent Sunday.

As Lee's paid daily circulation held stable at 1.7 million daily and 1.9 million Sunday in the latest reporting period, total print plus online audiences continued to expand, with total monthly online visits climbing to 11 million.

According to the latest monthly market studies conducted by Wilkerson & Associates in Lee's 10 largest markets, Lee's printed newspapers and their online sites reach more than two-thirds of all adults in their markets. The printed newspapers themselves reach 60 percent of all adults in the markets over seven days, and a fifth of all readers also use the newspaper online sites. About 6 percent of non-readers access the newspaper online sites.

"Increasingly, our online sites alone deliver a larger audience than all other media in the market except for the newspaper itself," said Mary Junck, Lee chairman and chief executive officer. "This growing reach, combined with our strong and solid base of paid newspaper circulation, gives us greater strength in our markets than ever before and keeps us firmly far in front of all competitors as the leading source of news, information and advertising."

Daily circulation climbed 0.4 percent to 278,999 at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, one of only a few metropolitan newspapers across the country to report growth. Sunday circulation declined 3.7 percent to 407,754, more closely reflecting a national average of metropolitan newspapers.

Nineteen Lee newspapers reported gains both daily and Sunday. They are located in Hanford and Santa Maria, Calif.; Lihue, Hawaii; Sioux City, Iowa; Twin Falls, Idaho; Bloomington, Carbondale and Decatur, Ill.; Winona, Minn.; Park Hills, Mo.; Billings, Butte and Helena, Mont.; Columbus, and Lincoln, Neb.; Corvallis, Ore.; Orangeburg, S.C.; Provo, Utah; and La Crosse, Wis.

Other newspapers reporting daily gains are located in Flagstaff and Tucson, Ariz.; Oceanside-Escondido, Calif.; Davenport and Mason City, Iowa; Charleston and Mattoon, Ill.; Maysville, Ky.; Missoula, Mont.; Fremont, Neb.; and Albany, Ore.

Others reporting gains on Sunday are located in DeKalb, Ill.; Longview, Wash.; and Chippewa Falls and Racine, Wis.

Lee Enterprises is a premier provider of local news, information and advertising in primarily midsize markets, with 51 daily newspapers and a joint interest in five others, rapidly growing online sites and more than 300 weekly newspapers and specialty publications in 23 states. Lee is based in Davenport, Iowa, and its stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol LEE. For more information about Lee, please visit www.lee.net.

CONTACT: Lee Enterprises, Incorporated
Dan Hayes, 563-383-2100
dan.hayes@lee.net

SOURCE: Lee Enterprises, Incorporated