News Release Details

DAVENPORT, Iowa--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 23, 2005--Michael E. Phelps, a vice president of Lee Enterprises, Incorporated (NYSE:LEE), and publisher of the Quad-City Times, announced today that he is leaving to join Clarity Media Group as a general executive.

"There has never been a more exciting time to be in Lee Enterprises, and I'll miss working with all the terrific people throughout Lee, but I can't pass up this personal opportunity," Phelps said. "The Examiner newspapers are making a bold statement of their own." Clarity, based in Denver, publishes The Examiner in San Francisco and The Examiner in Washington, D.C.

In addition to his responsibilities as publisher in Davenport, Phelps oversees newspapers in eastern Iowa, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Kentucky.

Mary Junck, Lee chairman and chief executive officer, said, "Michael has made indelible contributions in his nearly six years with Lee, first as vice president of sales and marketing, and then as an operating vice president and publisher. He's been a fountain of energy and ideas, and we'll miss him," she said.

Greg Veon, Lee vice president for publishing, said, "Michael has done an excellent job in leading the Quad-City Times to national recognition for editorial excellence as well as launching new and innovative products, like Your Mom, which is aimed at the youth market."

Veon said Phelps plans to phase out his responsibilities at the Times, and that the interim publisher will be Suzanna Frank, Lee's director of research and marketing. Before joining Lee in 2003, she was market research manager for the San Diego Union-Tribune and was a senior consultant in marketing strategy at Kannon Consulting Inc. in Chicago. She has a degree in international relations from Eastern Illinois University in Charleston and a master's degree in business administration and marketing from DePaul University in Chicago. She is a member of Newspaper Association of America's Research Federation board of directors and is a frequent presenter at industry conferences.

Lee Enterprises owns 52 daily newspapers and a joint interest in six others. Lee also operates associated online services and more than 300 weekly newspapers, shoppers and classified and specialty publications. 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 Enterprises, please visit www.lee.net.

CONTACT: Lee Enterprises, Incorporated, Davenport Dan Hayes, 563-383-2163 Dan.Hayes@Lee.net

SOURCE: Lee Enterprises, Incorporated