CINCINNATI, Ohio – The E. W. Scripps Company today filed a shelf registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission covering a proposed offering of 7 million Class A Common Shares. The company will not receive proceeds from the sale. The shares to be sold are owned by The Edward W. Scripps Trust, controlling shareholder of the company. The Scripps Trust has advised the company that the decision to sell shares is in keeping with its long-term effort to diversify the trust’s assets. The trust’s most recent sale of Scripps Class A Common Shares was in the summer of 1998. The offering will be made only by means of a prospectus. The trust may, from time to time, sell all or part of the registered shares to or through underwriters, directly to other purchasers or through agents, or through a combination of such methods. The company’s Class A Common Shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “SSP.” There is no active market for the company’s other class of stock – Common Voting.The trust currently owns 47.1 percent of the company’s outstanding 61.7 million Class A Common Shares and 87.3 percent of the outstanding 18.4 million Common Voting Shares. The registration statement relating to the Class A Common Shares has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission but has not yet become effective. The shares may not be sold and offers to buy may not be accepted prior to the time the registration statement becomes effective. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, and there shall not be any sale of Class A Common Shares in any state in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to the registration or qualification of the shares under the securities laws of any such state. 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 also operates Scripps Howard News Service and United Media, which is the worldwide licensing and syndication home of PEANUTS and DILBERT.