Exhibit 99.1
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| CONTACT: | | FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
| Karen Randall | | July 18, 2006 |
706-823-3403 karen.randall@morris.com | | |
Morris To Buy Four Weeklies In Georgia, South Carolina
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Morris Publishing Group has reached an agreement to acquireThe (Barnwell, S.C.)People-Sentinel,The Hampton County(S.C.) Guardian,The(Edgefield, S.C.)Citizen News and theSylvania(Ga.) Telephonefrom Community Newspapers, Inc.
The agreement was announced today by William S. Morris IV, president and CEO of Morris Publishing Group.
“These newspapers are located in our Augusta and Savannah market areas and are a great fit for us,” Morris said. “We are delighted to have the opportunity to be associated with these terrific newspapers and look forward to serving the readers and advertisers in these wonderful communities.”
Tom Wood, chairman of Community Newspapers, Inc., said, “These papers have served their communities in the finest tradition of community journalism for many years, two of them for more than a century. We are pleased that a newspaper company with the reputation of Morris Publishing will be involved in preserving that tradition.”
Georgia newspapers owned by Morris Publishing Group include the dailiesThe Augusta Chronicle, theSavannah Morning News and theAthens Banner-Herald, and the nondailiesThe Columbia County News Times,The McDuffie Mirror andThe News and Farmer and Wadley Herald/The Jefferson Reporter. Morris also ownsBluffton Today, a daily newspaper in South Carolina.
Morris Publishing Group, LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Morris Communications Company, LLC, a privately held media company based in Augusta, Ga. Morris Publishing currently owns and operates 27 daily and 12 nondaily newspapers, four city magazines and numerous free community publications in the Southeast, Midwest, Southwest and Alaska. For more information, visit www.morris.com.
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