Tribune Annual Meeting Highlights Business Progress

Tribune Annual Meeting Highlights Business Progress

Shareholders Re-elect Board Members, Ratify Auditors, Recognize Employee Contributions; Board Declares $.18 Per Share Quarterly Dividend

CHICAGO, May 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Tribune Company (NYSE:TRB) executives highlighted business progress, celebrated excellence in journalism and recognized employee contributions at the company's 2005 Annual Meeting of Shareholders held yesterday in Chicago.

"The business of local mass media is healthy and there is growth in our future," said Dennis FitzSimons, Tribune Company chairman, president and chief executive officer. "Tribune's newspapers and television stations are resilient. We have strong franchises in top markets, and they are critically important to advertisers, consumers and the communities we serve."

Tribune Publishing President Scott Smith reported on the company's publishing operations. "Each of our 11 metropolitan newspapers is the leading media business in its market," said Smith. "Their broad reach across diverse age and ethnic groups deliver informed and engaged audiences for thousands of advertisers."

Pat Mullen, Tribune Broadcasting President, highlighted the strength of Tribune's 26 television stations. "Our local stations are well-managed, and our strategy of programming to younger television viewers differentiates our WB and Fox affiliates in today's media environment," said Mullen. "The quality of local news programming and efficient operations also set Tribune apart."

The meeting also honored Tribune's journalists based in the U.S and around the world. In 2004, Tribune newspapers were recognized with four Pulitzer Prizes and the company's television stations received 38 Emmy Awards for local news production. The company presented its highest honors, the Tribune Management Award and the Tribune Values Award.

-- Tribune Management Award - A 12-person team from across the company that led Tribune's efforts with regard to Sarbanes Oxley compliance in 2004. -- Tribune Values Award - A four-person team at WPIX-TV, New York, for brightening the winter holiday season last year for U.S. troops in the Middle East. They were embedded with a military unit from New York and connected dozens of soldiers with their families back home via satellite, allowing them to share a brief visit during the holidays.

In other business at the meeting, shareholders re-elected Tribune board members Roger Goodan, Rick Hernandez, Jr., Chris Reyes and Dudley Taft to three-year terms. Shareholders also ratified the selection of PricewaterhouseCoopers as Tribune's independent accountants for 2005.

At its regularly scheduled meeting earlier in the day, Tribune's board of directors declared a quarterly dividend of $.18 per share on the common stock of the company. The dividend will be paid on June 9, 2005, to shareholders of record at the close of business on May 26, 2005.

TRIBUNE (NYSE:TRB) is one of the country's top media companies, operating businesses in publishing and broadcasting. It reaches more than 80 percent of U.S. households and is the only media organization with newspapers, television stations, and websites in the nation's top three markets. In publishing, Tribune operates 11 leading daily newspapers including the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and Newsday, plus a wide range of targeted publications such as Spanish-language Hoy. The company's broadcasting group operates 26 television stations, Superstation WGN on national cable, Chicago's WGN-AM and the Chicago Cubs baseball team. Popular news and information websites complement Tribune's print and broadcast properties and extend the company's nationwide audience.

Source: Tribune Company

CONTACT: Media, Gary Weitman, VP-Communications, +1-312-222-3394, gweitman@tribune.com , or Investors, Ruthellyn Musil, SVP-Corporate Relations, +1-312-222-3787, rmusil@tribune.com , both of the Tribune Company

Web site: http://www.tribune.com/

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