"Ken brings tremendous vitality and vision to our new media work. He has led the way in change at the Pioneer Press, and placed it among the nation's top newspapers in business, sports and features," said Bob Ingle, president of Knight-Ridder New Media. "He has made significant contributions to journalism in general and is ready to bring that type of thinking to the emerging media."

Knight-Ridder New Media, located in San Jose, California, oversees 34 Internet products that represent Knight-Ridder markets, including Mercury Center, Philadelphia Online and Herald Link, a product of the Miami Herald. Several technological projects, including online directories, entertainment guides and house hunting web sites are also managed by KRNM.

Doctor joined the St. Paul Pioneer Press in 1986 as Associate Editor/Features and became Managing Editor in 1994. In 1996 he helped create Pioneer Planet, the online component of the newspaper.

"At the core I believe participation and collaboration make the difference, and that we must always push ourselves a little harder to excellence," said Doctor describing his view of journalism, whether it is in print, in broadcast or online.

"We're uniquely positioned, as a strong and growing newspaper company, to take full advantage of the Web. To do that over the next year, I'm convinced we've got to do two, perhaps seemingly contradictory, things well. We've got to be more collaborative, using the best online minds at the newspapers and at KRNM, and we've got to move faster. We've got to move at Web speed, not at newspaper speed."

Doctor, 47, began his Knight-Ridder career at the Boulder Daily Camera in 1984, before moving to Saint Paul. He'll officially move to his new position in early June.

Knight-Ridder is an international communications company engaged in newspaper publishing, business news and information services, electronic retrieval services, news, graphics and photo services, and newsprint manufacturing. The company publishes 31 daily newspapers in the United States. Around the world, news, advertising and information from Knight-Ridder reach more than 100 million people in more than 150 countries. Knight-Ridder's headquarters are at 1 Herald Plaza, Miami, Fla., 33132.

Contacts:

Amy Rabinovitz

(408) 938-6030

arabinovitz@newmedia.kri.com

Ken Doctor

(612) 228-5487

doctor1@pioneerplanet.infi.net