NEEDHAM, Mass., June 4 /PRNewswire/ -- GateHouse Media New England has entered into an agreement with Waltham-based social media company TownConnect to introduce family-based social networking and a variety of other community-building tools on GateHouse's 159 Wicked Local town websites in Massachusetts. Through the co-branded Wicked Local People sites, residents of the 159 eastern Massachusetts communities served by GateHouse newspapers are now able to participate in a free, secure, private network and easily organize online communities of friends, neighbors and extended families; coordinate schedules; share photos and files; and connect families, friends, and neighbors. "When we launched the Wicked Local network last fall, we wanted to combine professional journalism, lots of community information, and lots of opportunities for residents to interact with us and with each other," said Kirk Davis, president of GateHouse Media New England. "Working with TownConnect allows us to take that interaction to the next level -- immediately." The Wicked Local network ("wicked" being New England slang for "very") is a region-wide expansion of the prize-winning WickedLocalPlymouth.com. Today, there are Wicked Local sites from Provincetown to Gloucester, from Somerville to Shrewsbury. While most are operated by a weekly newspaper, each of GateHouse New England's eight daily newspapers operates at least one Wicked Local site itself. The addition of Wicked Local People allows visitors to the sites to: -- Build and share family profiles, photo albums, and blogs. Links and calendars allow a family to organize everything from soccer schedules to homework assignments to social engagements - all in a secure, private network. It is what might be described as a "Facebook for families." -- Build an online space for a community group, place of worship, or other interest group to organize online information and communicate among members. -- Organize a sports team, complete with rosters, schedules, carpools, and a list of who has "snack duty" at which game. -- Share news and information broadly with all registered members of the community or easily send information directly to a GateHouse newspaper. In addition, special classroom tools are designed for teachers to provide a secure online environment to communicate with students and parents. "GateHouse newspapers have been connecting people in their individual communities for decades -- in some cases for more than a century," noted Mike Ford, founder and CEO of TownConnect. "The relationship with TownConnect allows GateHouse to extend and deepen those connections in many new ways, and it allows TownConnect to immediately reach GateHouse's huge Massachusetts audience." In addition to broadening services to readers, the collaboration with TownConnect will allow GateHouse to offer advertisers highly-targeted online opportunities and to significantly increase its online advertising inventory. With current inventory sold out on some of the most popular Wicked Local town sites, Wicked Local People will provide additional advertisers access to those audiences. TownConnect (http://www.townconnect.com/) is an exclusive, private online service designed to help busy people organize their and their families' lives. TownConnect.com was launched in October of 2007, serving the United States and Canada. As part of the GateHouse arrangement, the eastern Massachusetts TownConnect sites now live exclusively on the GateHouse Wicked Local sites. About GateHouse Media, Inc. GateHouse Media, Inc., headquartered in Fairport, New York, is one of the largest publishers of locally based print and online media in the United States as measured by its 98 daily publications. GateHouse Media currently serves local audiences of more than 10 million per week across 21 states through hundreds of community publications and local websites. GateHouse Media is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "GHS." For more information regarding GateHouse Media and to be added to our email distribution list, please visit http://www.gatehousemedia.com/. Forward-Looking Statements Certain items in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including without limitation, statements relating to progress made by the Company in its integration efforts, growth in revenues and cash flow, on-line revenues and potential acquisition opportunities. Forward-looking statements are generally identifiable by use of forward-looking terminology such as "may," "will," "should," "potential," "intend," "expect," "endeavor," "seek," "anticipate," "estimate," "overestimate," "underestimate," "believe," "could," "would," "project," "predict," "continue" or other similar words or expressions. Forward looking statements are based on certain assumptions or estimates, discuss future expectations, describe future plans and strategies, contain projections of results of operations or of financial condition or state other forward-looking information. The Company's ability to predict results or the actual effect of future plans or strategies is inherently uncertain. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, actual results and performance could differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. Factors which could have a material adverse effect on the Company's operations and future prospects or which could cause events or circumstances to differ from the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the Company's ability to close on a timely basis upon announced or contemplated transactions, unexpected liabilities arising from any transaction or that the Company will not receive the expected benefits from the transaction, the Company's limited operating history on a combined basis, the Company's ability to generate sufficient cash flow to cover required interest, long-term obligations and dividends, the effect of the Company's indebtedness and long-term obligations on its liquidity, the Company's ability to effectively manage its growth, unforeseen costs associated with the acquisition of new properties, the Company's ability to find suitably priced acquisitions, the Company's ability to integrate acquired assets and businesses, any increases in the price or reduction in the availability of newsprint, seasonal and other fluctuations affecting the Company's revenues and operating results, any declines in circulation, the Company's ability to obtain additional capital on terms acceptable to it, the Company's vulnerability to economic downturns, regulatory changes or acts of nature in certain geographic areas, increases in competition for skilled personnel, departure of key officers, increases in market interest rates, the cost and difficulty of complying with increasing and evolving regulation, and other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's SEC reports, including but not limited to its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC under Commission File Number 001-33091. When considering forward- looking statements, readers should keep in mind the risk factors and other cautionary statements in such SEC filings. Readers are also cautioned not to place undue reliance on any of these forward-looking statements, which reflect management's views as of the date of this press release. The factors discussed above and the other factors noted in the Company's SEC filings could cause actual results to differ significantly from those contained in any forward-looking statement. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements and expressly disclaims any obligation to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect any change in expectations with regard thereto or change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any statement is based. DATASOURCE: GateHouse Media New England CONTACT: Anne Eisenmenger of GateHouse Media New England, +1-617-835-6257 Web site: http://www.gatehousemedia.com/ http://www.townconnect.com/

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