CINCINNATI – Kenneth W. Lowe today was elected president and chief executive officer of The E.W. Scripps Company, effective Oct. 1. Lowe’s appointment had been expected since January when he was elected president and chief operating officer and William R. Burleigh announced that he planned to step down as CEO. Burleigh will continue as chairman of the board after Sept. 30. Lowe also was elected a director of the company in January. “Ken Lowe is ideally suited to lead the company,” Burleigh said. “He’s energetic and visionary, two qualities that are essential to move Scripps forward as a leading creator of news, lifestyle and entertainment content. I will vacate the CEO office fully convinced that we could not possibly have found a better successor.”Lowe said, “Under Bill Burleigh’s steady leadership, Scripps has positioned itself for growth in all of its content disciplines. Going forward, we intend to build the intrinsic value of the company by focusing on what we do best: creating quality, original content that spans the growing array of new media platforms.”Lowe, 50, previously was chairman and CEO of Scripps Networks and had spent the past five years building the company’s category media division into one of the nation’s fastest growing and most successful creators of unique brands for television and the Internet. He has overseen the start of both the Home & Garden (HGTV) and Do It Yourself (DIY) cable networks, as well as managing the Food Network, in which the company owns a controlling interest. Lowe, a North Carolina native who began his career in radio broadcasting while a student at the University of North Carolina, joined Scripps in 1980 as general manager of the company’s radio properties. In 1988, he became vice president of programming, promotion and marketing for the company’s nine network affiliated television stations.The E.W. Scripps Company is a diverse media concern with interests in newspaper publishing, broadcast television, cable television programming and interactive media. Scripps operates 20 daily newspapers, 10 broadcast TV stations and three cable television networks, with plans to launch a fourth.Scripps cable television network brands include Home & Garden Television, Food Network, Do It Yourself, and Fine Living, due to launch in the second half of 2001.The company also operates Scripps Howard News Service, United Media, the worldwide licensing and syndication home of PEANUTS and DILBERT, and 31 Web sites, including hgtv.com, foodtv.com, diynet.com and comics.com.