MAC TULLY RESIGNS AS KC STAR PUBLISHER; ZIEMAN NAMED INTERIM

January 28^th, 2008

Memo to: Star employees

From: Mac Tully

FOR INTERNAL USE ONLY

Dear Employees:

It’s with mixed emotions that I announce that I’m leaving The Kansas City Star to join Media News Group. While it has been a difficult decision for me to make personally to leave The Star, I know I leave it in very capable hands with the current management team that is in place.

McClatchy is truly a great company to work for and my time at this newspaper has been very special to me. And The Star holds a special place within McClatchy. It has always been blessed with a great deal of talent and that is quite evident in the results that you’ve been able to post.

I am proud of the great journalism we have done together, and the awards we’ve won doing it, from our 13^th Gold Cup in 14 years as the best newspaper in Missouri to the Sweepstakes Award as best newspaper in Kansas. We’ve been recognized for outstanding journalism in virtually every category, from an ASNE Triple Crown for our sports section to awards for our features, design, business coverage, projects, food section – the list goes on.

We’ve also been one of the leading papers in the industry capturing readers in both print and interactive. We grew more online readers this year than any paper in McClatchy, and launched numerous online initiatives from Varsity Zone to Mom2Mom to Weekly Blink.

And while our advertising revenue numbers have been challenging, you can take pride in the fact that The Star’s performance compared to our peer papers has been excellent. In December, The Star was the top-ranked paper for overall advertising performance out of the roughly 25 metro dailies we compare ourselves with, fifth for year-end performance.

Those are just a few fun facts to remind you of what you already know – The Kansas City Star is one of the very best newspapers in the country. And even better days are ahead!

Thank you so much for the past three years. Professionally I am moving on to other opportunities but personally I am rooting for each one of you. You are a great team – and you have created a great newspaper.

Thanks again,

Mac

KC Star, 1/28/08
Star publisher to leave; editor named interim publisher

    Mac Tully, publisher of The Kansas City Star since 2004, is leaving the company. Tully said today he was taking a job with MediaNews Group, which owns and runs 57 daily newspapers in 12 states.
    Mark Zieman, editor of The Star since 1997, was named interim publisher. Robert J. Weil, vice president of operations for The Star’s owner, McClatchy Co., said the newspaper chain had started a search for a new publisher.
   Zieman is among those being considered, Weil said.