About.com's Health Channel Obtains HON Foundation's Code of Conduct Certification; Receipt Reinforces Site's Commitment to Consumer Health Offering

Business Wire, August 2, 2006

NEW YORK -- About.com today announced that About Health (health.about.com) has received Health On the Net Foundation's Code of Conduct certification (HONcode(C)). Health On the Net (HON) is a not-for-profit medical information portal and its seal of approval, featured on each relevant Web page, identifies About.com as an internationally reliable source of health information.

Certification by HON denotes that the accredited Web site provides sound, authoritative information; data confidentiality and privacy; proper attribution of sources; and transparency, such as a clear delineation of advertising and editorial content.

The HONcode(C) certification comes as About.com continues to expand its rapidly growing health content offering. For the past seven months, About Health has consistently ranked second in the online Health and Fitness category for content sites, according to Nielsen NetRatings. About Health provides original content on a range of diseases and conditions, from asthma to weight management, through a network of qualified medical professionals and other health experts.

"With the HONcode(C) certification, visitors to About Health can benefit from the same timely, up-to-date, and authoritative information as in the past, but now with the recognition that it meets international standards for timeliness, credibility, and trustworthiness," said Marjorie L. Martin, general manager, About Health.

About.com features thousands of topics and is the largest publisher of original content on the Web--more than 1.4 million pieces of content across 57,000 topics covered by more than 530 experts or "Guides" who share their passions, actionable information and advice. One of 22 robust content channels, About Health offers a friendly, pragmatic "voice of reason" on a vast array of health topics, and its health Guides consist of physicians, medical professionals, patient advocates and authors.

About About.com

Founded in 1996, About.com is the leading online source for original consumer information and advice and was acquired in March 2005 by The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT), a leading media company with 2005 revenues of $3.4 billion. The New York Times Company includes The New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, The Boston Globe, 15 other daily newspapers, nine network-affiliated television stations, two New York City radio stations and 35 Web sites, including NYTimes.com, Boston.com and About.com. The Company's core purpose is to enhance society by creating, collecting and distributing high-quality news, information and entertainment.

About HON

Health Information You Can TRUST

The Health On the Net Foundation (HON: http://www.healthonnet.org/) promotes and guides the deployment of useful and reliable online health information, and its appropriate and efficient use. Created in 1995, HON is a non-profit, non-governmental organization, accredited to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. For ten years, HON has focused on the essential question of the provision of health information to citizens, information that respects ethical standards. To cope with the unprecedented volume of healthcare information available on the Net, the HONcode of conduct offers a multi-stakeholder consensus on standards to protect citizens from misleading health information.