CINCINNATI – Tom King, editor of the Record Searchlight in Redding, Calif., since 1996, has decided to take early retirement, ending a long and successful association with The E. W. Scripps Company.King and his family plan to return to the Southeast, where he was raised and spent the first 19 of his 33 years as a newspaper journalist. King’s decision ends an association with Scripps newspapers that began in 1974 when he was hired as a sportswriter for The Knoxville News-Sentinel. King’s last day as editor of the Record Searchlight will be March 28.”We respect Tom’s desire to spend more time with his family, but frankly, we’re sorry to see him go,” said Alan M. Horton, senior vice president/newspapers for Scripps. “Thanks to his leadership, the Record Searchlight is a very good newspaper looking for ways to improve every day. His journalistic skill and enthusiasm make good things happen.”King, 56, was named editor of the Record Searchlight after serving eight years as editor of the El Paso (Texas) Herald-Post, which ceased publication in 1997. He served a year as managing editor of the Herald-Post before being named editor. During his 14 years in Knoxville, in addition to sports writing, King served as the News-Sentinel’s city editor and then as assistant managing editor/news. King began his career in 1969 as sports editor of his hometown newspaper, The Macon (Ga.) News, a Knight Ridder newspaper. While there he was honored as Georgia’s Sportswriter and Sports Columnist of the Year in 1972. In May 2002, King was elected president of the California Society of Newspaper Editors after serving three years on its board. He served six years on the board of directors of the Texas Daily Newspaper Association when he was editor in El Paso.King has a bachelor’s degree in English from Georgia Southern University. He and his family plan to reside in Knoxville. Celebrating its 125th anniversary, The E.W. Scripps Company is a diverse media concern with interests in newspaper publishing, broadcast television, national television networks, interactive media and television-retailing. Scripps operates 21 daily newspapers, 10 broadcast TV stations, four cable and satellite television programming services and a home shopping network. All of the company’s media businesses provide content and advertising services via the Internet.Scripps Networks brands include Home & Garden Television, Food Network, DIY — Do It Yourself Network and Fine Living. Home & Garden and Food Network each can be seen in about 80 million U.S. television households. Scripps Networks is home to three of the Internet’s most popular Web sites – foodtv.com, hgtv.com and diynet.com. Scripps Networks programming can be seen in 25 countries. The company’s home shopping subsidiary, Shop At Home Network, markets a growing range of consumer goods directly to television viewers and visitors to the Shop At Home Web site, shopathometv.com. Shop At Home reaches about 47 million full-time equivalent U.S. households.Scripps also operates Scripps Howard News Service and United Media, which is the worldwide licensing and syndication home of PEANUTS and DILBERT.