On the day following Barack Obama's election as the next president of the United States, Tribune Company announced it was experiencing historic demand for its newspapers in each of the eight markets it serves across the country.

"This is a clear demonstration that people continue turning to their local newspaper to help them understand and interpret the news of the day, and that is especially true when big events happen," said Randy Michaels, Tribune's chief operating officer. "This kind of demand for our newspapers is unlike anything we've experienced in recent history. The traffic at our newspaper web sites is also way up - yesterday, the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times sites experienced a record-breaking number of page views."

In anticipation of the increased demand, Tribune newspapers increased press runs in some markets by as much as 10 per cent to 100 per cent. Many of the company's newspapers continuing printing additional copies throughout today yesterday.

Some highlights:

- The Los Angeles Times said it had expected to sell 100,000 more copies than it does on a typical Wednesday.

- Obama's hometown newspaper, the Chicago Tribune, increased its press run on 4 November by several thousand copies and printed and distributed an additional 200,000 copies yesterday, 5 November.

- The Baltimore Sun increased the press run 100 per cent on 4 November, printing more copies today, and will make still more copies of yesterday's newspaper available for sale today in most locations across the city.

- Both of the company's newspapers in the battleground state of Florida, the Sentinel in Orlando and the Sun Sentinel in South Florida, experienced unprecedented demand - each printed an additional 12,000 copies for their respective
markets.

- The Courant, in Hartford, Conn., printed an additional 15,000 copies, the Daily Press, in Newport News in Virginia printed an additional 12,000, and the Allentown Morning Call an additional 3,500.

Tribune is America's largest employee-owned media company, operating businesses in publishing, interactive and broadcasting. In publishing, Tribune's leading daily newspapers include the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, The Baltimore Sun, Sun Sentinel, Orlando Sentinel, Hartford Courant, Morning Call and Daily Press. The company's broadcasting group operates 23 television stations, WGN America on national cable, Chicago's WGN-AM and the Chicago Cubs baseball team. Popular news and information websites complement Tribune's print and broadcast properties and extend the company's nationwide audience. At Tribune we take what we do seriously and with a great deal of pride. We also value the creative spirit and are nurturing a corporate culture that doesn't take itself too seriously.