The Real Cities Network now becomes the largest aggregation of local online media companies, with coverage in 15 of the top 25, or half of the top 50 media markets in the nation.

"We are thrilled that Belo has decided to join the Real Cities Network and take a pre-eminent role in helping make the Network successful. Belo brings an impressive line-up of top-tier markets and award-winning media properties and Web sites," said Dan Finnigan, president of KnightRidder.com. "This partnership fits perfectly with Real Cities' collective mission to pull together in each market the company and the site with the deepest news, entertainment and local online services - to share each other's traffic, advertising opportunities, content and products."

"Helping to create the leading local network on the Web is a deliberate strategic move for us," said Eric Christensen, Belo Interactive's acting general manager. "Our company has long recognized the value of a national network and we're excited about taking the Real Cities Network to the next level. Given our expertise in video programming and our strategic markets, we believe that Real Cities will help grow our usage and allow us to generate more revenue from our sites."

With the addition of Belo, the Real Cities Network expands to 55 cities. Houston and Dallas, which are new to the network's top 25 line-up, are included. Belo also adds to Real Cities such attractive markets as: St. Louis, Portland, New Orleans and Austin. Three newspapers - The Dallas Morning News, The Providence (RI) Journal and The Press-Enterprise (Riverside, CA) - and 12 television stations will bring the work of Belo's award-winning journalists to the network.

KnightRidder.com and Belo will also be looking to collaborate on several other fronts to create an infrastructure that will support significant growth in delivering interactive multimedia content on the Web. Belo's leadership in multimedia services and deep television content represent an exciting opportunity for the Real Cities Network.

With Belo's newspaper and TV properties, Real Cities solidifies its position as the pre-eminent national network of local online sites. With print and broadcast partners, Real Cities offers the deepest local information in the broadest nationwide network, providing one-stop destinations for advertisers, consumers, business and community members around the country.

Belo Interactive will integrate Real Cities' local directories and also benefit from Real Cities' strategic content distribution opportunities, which will include online and wireless partners. Real Cities has distribution deals with Palm, AT&T;, and Yahoo! The Yahoo! Local news channel features headlines from Real Cities affiliates. Real Cities is also one of the few in-box providers of local headlines for the "News Where You Are" channel in Palm handheld devices. These flagship distribution deals extend the Real Cities local content nationwide.

In addition to the newspaper sites in Dallas, Providence and Riverside, television sites joining the network serve the following cities: Houston, Texas; St. Louis, Missouri; Portland, Oregon; Norfolk, Virginia; New Orleans, Louisiana; Louisville, Kentucky; Austin, Texas; Tucson, Arizona; Spokane, Washington; and Boise, Idaho.

About Real Cities:

Real Cities consists of a unique partnership network that brings together the best local strengths of leading U.S. media and Internet companies including Belo, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, E.W. Scripps Co., Gannett Co., Inc., KnightRidder.com and North Jersey Media Group, Inc. The network allows media organizations to leverage their strong local content in a national network that brings to consumers news, sports, event happenings and community connections from locally run information sources that are trusted to be the heart and soul of their locale. Among Real Cities' member Web sites are BayArea.com, Cincinow.com, DFW.com, Indy.com, KansasCity.com, Kentucky.com, Miami.com, Philly.com, PittsburghFirst.com, PhoenixAZ.com, Charlotte.com, NWsource.com, TwinCities.com, JerseySouth.com and NorthJersey.com.

KnightRidder.com, a leader in local information and services on the Web and founder of the Real Cities network, is headquartered in San Jose, California. KnightRidder.com develops and manages the Internet properties of Knight Ridder (NYSE:KRI), the nation's second largest newspaper publisher. KnightRidder.com is a separate Internet subsidiary.

About Belo Interactive:

Belo Interactive is a Belo subsidiary. Belo is one of the nation's largest media companies with a diversified group of market-leading broadcasting, publishing, cable and interactive media assets. A Fortune 1000 company with more than 8,500 employees and $1.5 billion in annual revenues, Belo operates news and information franchises in some of America's most dynamic markets and regions, including Texas, the Northwest, the Southwest, Rhode Island, and the Mid-Atlantic region. Belo owns 17 television stations (six in the top 17 markets) reaching 13.7 percent of U.S. television households; owns or operates six cable news channels; and manages three television stations through local marketing agreements. Belo publishes four daily newspapers: The Dallas Morning News, The Providence Journal, The Press-Enterprise (Riverside, CA.) and the Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, TX.). Belo Interactive's new media businesses include 35 Web sites, several interactive alliances, and a broad range of Internet-based products. Additional information is available online at www.belo.com

Press contacts:

Cynthia Mallen Funnell, KnightRidder.com, (408) 938-6076 or cfunnell@knightridder.com

Bill Maxfield, PRx Inc. for KnightRidder.com, (408) 287-1700 or bill_maxfield@prxinc.com

Eric Christensen, Belo Interactive, (214) 977-4032 or echristensen@belointeractive.com