Newsweek and MSNBC Launch Newsweek.MSNBC.com

Business Wire, June 19, 2000

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 19, 2000

MSNBC.com, MSNBC Cable and NBC News, The

Washington Post, Newsweek and Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive

Solidify Strategic Alliance

Newsweek.MSNBC.com launched today as the new Internet home of Newsweek.com. The co-branded Newsweek site will include sections on National and World News, Business & Money, Science & Health, Lifestyle & Family, Technology, Entertainment and Periscope in addition to the cover story and other weekly features and highlights.

Selected stories will be augmented with audio, video and interactive features, and the site will provide breaking news and fresh analytical stories throughout the week. Newsweek.MSNBC.com also provides navigational links to all other areas of MSNBC.com.

"MSNBC is proud to be aligned with Newsweek, one of the world's great journalistic institutions," said Merrill Brown, editor in chief, MSNBC.com. "MSNBC.com is a vastly rich news site today with the addition of Newsweek and we're thrilled to be able to collaboratively work with Newsweek reporters and editors to create the new multimedia-rich interactive Newsweek.MSNBC.com."

"We are very excited to be part of an alliance that truly takes advantage of the Internet medium," said Christopher Schroeder, chief executive officer and publisher of Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive. "With Newsweek's unique perspective and insight into the world along with MSNBC.com's robust multimedia assets, users will experience news with an interactivity, immediacy and perspective that is distinct on the World Wide Web."

The launch of Newsweek.MSNBC.com is part of a broader strategic alliance between the various news organizations announced in November of 1999. Under the final agreement, signed last week, MSNBC.com has access to content from The Washington Post newspaper and washingtonpost.com. Similarly, washingtonpost.com and Newsweek magazine have access to NBC News multimedia content, including broadcast, cable and the Internet coverage. Journalists from The Washington Post and Newsweek appear on NBC News and MSNBC Cable, including regular segments on "The News with Brian Williams." Co-branded segments, based on both magazine and Web reporting, will also appear regularly on NBC News broadcasts and on MSNBC Cable.

The alliance provides opportunities for joint editorial coverage of selected major events and breaking news, multi-platform programming projects and expanded Internet coverage. A recent example is the collaborative coverage between Newsweek and MSNBC.com on the 25th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, "Vietnam Revisited" (http://vietnam.msnbc.com).

"The combination of Newsweek's perspective and analysis with MSNBC.com's minute-to-minute coverage will make for a truly relevant and comprehensive news site," said Richard M. Smith, chairman and editor-in-chief of Newsweek. "This alliance gives both partners new tools and new resources to create great journalism."

Editorial oversight for each media organization remains independent.

Editor's Note: There are two screen shots and a logo available at www.MSNBC.com/newsweeklaunch

ABOUT THE WASHINGTON POST COMPANY

The Washington Post Company (NYSE:WPO) is a diversified media organization whose principal operations include newspaper and magazine publishing, broadcasting and cable television systems. The company also provides educational services and career and hiring management. It publishes The Washington Post, a morning daily and Sunday newspaper, and Newsweek, a weekly newsmagazine with a national and three international editions that has a combined worldwide circulation of more than 4 million and a readership exceeding 22 million.

ABOUT WPNI

Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive (WPNI) is the new-media and electronic-publishing subsidiary of The Washington Post Company. Its mission is to develop the company's editorial products and businesses on the World Wide Web. WPNI's flagship products include washingtonpost.com and Newsweek.MSNBC.com (formerly Newsweek.com).

ABOUT NBC NEWS

For more than 70 years, NBC News has been a primary source of global news and information providing immediate coverage and in-depth reporting of major events. NBC News provides over 25 hours of weekly programming in the United States, including the No. 1-rated broadcasts "Nightly News with Tom Brokaw," "Today" and "Meet the Press." The network also produces weekend editions of "Today" and "Nightly News," and the new morning program, "Later Today." Additionally, "Dateline NBC" is the most watched newsmagazine and the signature broadcast for NBC News in primetime five nights a week.

Also under the NBC News umbrella is MSNBC, a 24-hour cable news channel and Internet joint venture of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and NBC (NYSE:GE), launched in 1996. MSNBC is one of the fastest growing cable networks with distribution deals to reach 66 million households by 2002; and MSNBC.com is the No. 1-rated news Web site for 1999. With MSNBC, NBC is the only broadcast network to have a 24-hour news cable channel and Internet service.