This marks the first integration of the newspaper sites into the Real Cities national network onto a single platform.

"We're very excited about this transition on our flagship site," said Dan Finnigan, president of KnightRidder.com. "This change in technology drives tools back into the newsroom, and empowers journalists to create content on the Web easily, without technical assistance. We're creating streamlined and efficient technology solutions on a large scale - the impact on our business and the industry is significant."

"Our goal is to get all of the newspaper sites and all of the regional sites on a single platform," said Rohn Jay Miller, senior vice president of product and technology for KnightRidder.com. "This is a massive undertaking as this integration process standardizes on open standards using J2EE, getting out of proprietary technologies. This proves that we can use open standards such as Java and XML to integrate an enormously complex platform."

"Technology portfolio management is a huge, frustrating issue right now for content-rich sites all over the Web, and we think that we are leading the space in forging an industry-wide solution," said Miller. "We're currently working using XMULTRA, our own patent-pending XML utility, but we will develop this technology even further in the coming year. Real Cities is well-suited to lead this catalyst because we have the 'spine' that newspapers offer. Online newspapers are providing us with a foundation for this transformation."

Real Cities is consolidating the sites into a single content repository, a single content management system and a single customer database. This consolidation begins with BayArea.com and will eventually take place network-wide in stages over the next year.

Real Cities will complete the first phase on all the sites by the end of this year. Further consolidation of all the Real Cities sites will be completed over 2001 in stages, each stage building upon the foundation technology previously used in the preceding stage. The final stage of a single platform will be completed in June, 2001.

"We are extending the brand equity of our newspapers and the information resources to users," said Miller. "A newspaper's fundamental mission is to help readers understand where they live their lives. We aim to continue that tradition on a larger scale."

The San Jose Mercury News became the first daily newspaper in the country to publish its complete news and classifieds in a national online service in May 1993. Moving to the Web in 1994, Mercury Center then gave birth to the internationally recognized SiliconValley.com, well-known for its technology business to users across the United States and throughout the world. SiliconValley.com will also be featured on the BayArea.com site.

The transition to BayArea.com is intended to encompass local news, information and a host of online channels in the areas of entertainment, travel, health, sports, business, community publishing, dining, movie reviews and listings, maps and directions, and extensive classifieds in real estate, employment, and auto from the Greater Bay Area which includes San Francisco, the East Bay, the Peninsula and the South Bay. BayArea.com is the new online home of The Mercury News, the Contra Costa Times and will soon feature content from partners such as SF Weekly.

The evolution of Mercury Center is an illustration of Real Cities' strategy to offer the widest and deepest local news and information on Real Cities' 36 online regional Web sites. Much more than the results of a robotic search, the Web site links on Real Cities directories are more valuable because they represent the informed choices of editors who also happen to be residents of the areas covered. BayArea.com's site is poised to be the most complete source of information in one place about the neighborhoods in which people live, combining integrated classifieds and commerce, information published by community groups and free email.

About BayArea.com:

BayArea.com, the Bay Area's home page, provides users with breaking news and information in addition to: Bay Area related business, travel, health and sports channels, traffic updates, shopping, classifieds, entertainment, community publishing, links to media affiliates and partners, The Mercury News archives, restaurant and movie listings, movie trailers, search capabilities and other online offerings. The site also features a bar guide and a 360ƒ view of some of the Bay Area's hottest nightclubs and bars. BayArea.com is the exclusive online outlet for the news content of The Mercury News- including content from the new San Francisco edition of the Contra Costa Times and SiliconValley.com. Through a partnership with Palm, wireless users can get local news, sports and updated headlines on BayArea.com.

About Real Cities:

Real Cities consists of a unique partnership network that brings together the best strengths of leading U.S. media and Internet companies including KnightRidder.com, Belo Corporation, Central Newspapers, E.W. Scripps, Macromedia, Inc., and Blade Communications. The network helps consumers connect with and maximize their cities' resources by providing ways to stay informed, save time and live fuller and more entertaining lives. Among Real Cities' member Web sites are BayArea.com, Cincinow.com, DFW.com, Indy.com, KansasCity.com, Kentucky.com, Miami.com, Philly.com, Ohio.com, PhoenixAZ.com, Charlotte.com, TwinCities.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.

Press contacts:

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

Maya Esparza, PRx Inc. for Real Cities, 408-287-1700, ext. 120, maya_esparza@prxinc.com