For immediate release
May 8, 2006
For more information, contact:
Mary Elson
Managing Editor
Tribune Media Services
(312) 222-4423
melson@tribune.com
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"What to Watch. Where to Watch It"
Chicago, IL, May 8, 2006 — MTribune Media Services (TMS), the content-licensing unit of Tribune Company, today announced the introduction of syndicated weekly columns by two of the nation's best-known travel writers for use by newspapers and their websites.
Rick Steves, author of the best-selling series of guidebooks, including "Europe Through the Back Door" and host of travel shows on public television and National Public Radio, will produce a 750-word column with companion color photos. The feature, called "Rick Steves' Europe," will describe vacation destinations, offer advice on successful travel and cover travel-related news.
Steves' weekly travel show is currently seen on 312 public-television stations across the country. His series of popular guidebooks address the information needs of the 12 million Americans who travel to Europe each year.
TMS also will syndicate "The Travel Troubleshooter" by Christopher Elliott, ombudsman for National Geographic magazine and a regular contributor to major media outlets in print and online. Elliott's authoritative weekly Q&A column helps consumers solve travel-related problems and offers practical advice to vacationers and business travelers. The column is 650 words.
Elliott, a well-known travel-industry watchdog, has been a contributor to ABCNews.com, CNN.com, National Public Radio, the New York Times, USA Today and U.S. News & World Report. He has written "The Travel Troubleshooter" since 1999.
"At a time when the travel industry is enjoying a sharp recovery in the United States and abroad, TMS believes these columns by brand-name writers will be an essential addition to newspapers' travel pages," said David D. Williams, TMS president and CEO. "Consumers are seeking credible information in readable formats to make their trips illuminating, safe and enjoyable.
"Both of these writers," he added, "are experts who know their territory and have already amassed large and appreciative audiences."
TMS will distribute the first columns by Steves and Elliott to client newspapers on May 16 for immediate release
About Tribune Media Services (www.tms.tribune.com)
Tribune Media Services (TMS) is a leading provider of information and entertainment products for print, electronic and on-air media in the United States and abroad. It distributes TV and movie listings and related editorial content under the TMS and Zap2it brands; syndicates comics, features and opinion columns; creates and syndicates a variety of online information products; licenses editorial content from national periodicals; and manages national advertising networks. Through its Knight Ridder/Tribune partnership, TMS also markets news, features, information graphics and multimedia content to media clients around the world. Headquartered in Chicago, with offices in New York, Glens Falls, N.Y., Dallas, Houston, Milwaukee, Amsterdam, London and Hong Kong, TMS is a subsidiary of the Tribune Company (NYSE:TRB).
For more information about TMS, visit (http://www.tribunemediaentertainment.com).
