News Release Details

DAVENPORT, Iowa--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 26, 2004--Lee Enterprises (NYSE:LEE) and its newspaper in Davenport, the Quad-City Times, are launching an online site and companion weekly free publication for teen-agers.

The online version of Your Mom, described as "irreverent and snarky," began operating over the weekend at www.yourmomonline.com, with news, reviews, features, opinions, photos, polls and advertising. The printed version will begin publication in September.

"The future of this newspaper lies in attracting youthful Quad-Citians to begin a newspaper reading habit early," said Michael Phelps, publisher of the Times. "Since nearly two-thirds of those between the ages of 18 and 24 say they read our newspaper sometime during the week, we've got a good start. But we need to do way better."

He added, "Your Mom is for those just younger than that group, our market's high schoolers, and is not unlike its recently started cousins in Dallas and Chicago. But since most of the content will be written and photographed by our market's students, I expect Your Mom will quickly evolve into 'best of class' status."

Mary Junck, chairman and chief executive officer, said Lee asked the Media Management Center at Northwestern University to help research and create a way to reach more teen-agers. "The result is the work of a group of very talented graduate students," she said. "They developed a creative and convincing plan that we very quickly set into motion."

One of the graduate students, Hillary Rhodes, signed on as editor, immediately after receiving her master's degree. She said the content will be "very, very localized .... People will see themselves in it, real live teens who really live here."

So why is it called Your Mom?

"It's a weird name, but that's the beauty of it," the Northwestern students said in their report. "It's not lame and overused like... Generation Next and it doesn't include the word 'teen,' which tends to turn teens off. Not only does the name conjure up memories of jokes we don't like to admit we find funny, but Northwestern University's Media Management Center also reports that today's teens are very close with their parents, so the name works on at least two levels.... Like the jokes that inspired its name, Your Mom is irreverent and snarky."

Junck said the target audience in the Quad-Cities is younger than that of a similar project that Lee and The Capital Times Co. recently announced in Madison, Wisconsin. There, Core Weekly is aimed at adults under 30 and will focus on arts and entertainment coverage. "What they have in common," she said, "is that they're new ways we're reaching out to more readers."

Lee Enterprises is based in Davenport, Iowa, and is the premier publisher of daily newspapers in midsize markets. Lee Enterprises owns 38 daily newspapers and associated online sites in 19 states and a joint interest in six other newspapers through its partnership with The Capital Times Co. Lee also publishes nearly 200 weekly newspapers, shoppers and classified and specialty publications. Lee stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol LEE. More information about Lee Enterprises is available at www.lee.net.

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

    SOURCE: Lee Enterprises