DENVER – Harry M. Whipple, an accomplished executive with 18 years experience managing newspapers published under joint operating agreements, has been named president and chief executive officer of the Denver Newspaper Agency (DNA), effective May 26. Whipple succeeds Kirk MacDonald, who is leaving the agency to start his own marketing and communications company. DNA, which was established in 2000 by The E. W. Scripps Company and MediaNews Group Inc., manages the business and production operations of the Rocky Mountain News and The Denver Post under the terms of a joint operating agreement (JOA). Scripps, which owns the News, and MediaNews Group, which owns The Post, each have a 50-percent stake in DNA. “Harry Whipple is a top-notch newspaper executive with a wealth of experience in advertising sales, business development and JOA management,” said Kenneth W. Lowe, president and chief executive officer for Scripps. “Choosing him to take the reins in Denver is intended to help our jointly owned agency achieve its full financial potential in one of America’s most attractive local media markets.” “We deeply appreciate the leadership of Kirk MacDonald during the first six years of the Denver Newspaper Agency, and we wish him well in his new venture,” said William Dean Singleton, publisher of The Post. And Singleton continued, “MediaNews and Scripps have worked with Harry Whipple in years past and we know his steady, seasoned leadership will take our Denver newspapers to new heights in the coming years.” While the Denver Newspaper Agency manages the business and production affairs of the two morning daily newspapers, Scripps and MediaNews Group both maintain independent and competing editorial departments at the Rocky Mountain News and The Post. Whipple, 58, comes to Denver from Salt Lake City, where he served for two years in a similar capacity as president of Newspaper Agency Corp., a JOA that manages the business and production operations for the Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret Morning News. MediaNews Group, as owner the Tribune, also is a partner in the Salt Lake City JOA. Prior to his lead management role in Salt Lake City, Whipple served 11 years, from 1992 to 2003, as president and publisher of The Cincinnati Enquirer, which manages a joint operating agreement between Gannett Co., owner of the Enquirer, and Scripps, owner of The Cincinnati Post. He also served as president of Tucson Newspapers Inc. in Tucson, Ariz. – a JOA owned, at the time, by Gannett and Pulitzer Inc. Whipple began his newspaper career at his family’s newspapers in Arkansas and Indiana. After serving with the U.S. Army in the early 1970s, Whipple rejoined his family’s newspaper operations before moving to the Scripps League Newspaper Group in Southwest Pennsylvania. He joined Gannett in 1977 at the company’s newspaper in Rockford, Ill., and four years later was named publisher of Gannett’s Valley News Dispatch, also in Southwest Pennsylvania. He later served as Midwest Vice President and Regional Manager for Gannett Media Sales, which was based in Chicago. While in Salt Lake City, Whipple served on the board of directors of the United Way of Salt Lake, the board of trustees for the Salt Lake Convention & Visitors Bureau and the executive committee of the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce. About The Denver Newspaper Agency The Denver Newspaper Agency publishes The Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News under a JOA designed to preserve editorial competition. Combined business operations are managed by DNA, which is equally owned by MediaNews Group Inc. and The E. W. Scripps Company. About Scripps The E. W. Scripps Company (NYSE: SSP) is a diverse and growing media enterprise with interests in national cable networks, newspaper publishing, broadcast television stations, electronic commerce, interactive media, and licensing and syndication. About MediaNews Group MediaNews Group Inc. is the nation’s seventh largest newspaper company, with headquarters in Denver. MediaNews Group and its affiliated companies publish 49 daily newspapers and approximately 120 non-daily publications in 12 states. The company also owns a CBS affiliated television station in Anchorage, Alaska, and four radio stations in Texas.