CINCINNATI – William R. Burleigh has been named chairman of The E.W. Scripps Company’s board of directors. He will continue as Scripps president and CEO, a position he has held since 1996.Burleigh, 63, who has served on the Scripps board since 1990, succeeds Lawrence A. Leser, who chose not to stand for re-election to the board this year. Leser served as chairman of the Scripps board for nearly five years, was president and chief executive officer of the company from 1985 to 1994 and had been a member of the board since 1977.The company also announced that Nackey E. Scagliotti, president and publisher of Neighborhood Publications Inc., was elected to the Scripps board during the company’s annual shareholders meeting Thursday. Neighborhood Publications is a weekly newspaper group based in Bedford, N.H.Mrs. Scagliotti, 53, also is chairman of the board of directors for Manchester, N.H.-based Union Leader Corp., which publishes daily and Sunday newspapers. Mrs. Scagliotti is a niece of Charles E. Scripps, chairman of the executive committee of the Scripps board.The E.W. Scripps Company operates 19 daily newspapers; nine network-affiliated television stations; two TV networks, Home & Garden Television and the Food Network; a TV programmer, Scripps Productions; United Media, a worldwide syndicator and licensor of news features and comics; the Scripps Howard News Service; and publishes independent Yellow Pages directories.