Media General Inc. reported a loss of US$20.3 million (91 cents a share) in the first quarter of 2007, the Canadian Press reported Thursday.

Newspaper ad revenue dropped 19.1 percent in the first quarter, while profit in its publishing division fell 56.4 percent on total revenues that were down 16.7 percent.

“Media General's lower first-quarter results were largely attributable to continued weak revenues, especially in the publishing division, driven substantially by the impact of the deep housing-induced recession in Florida on our Tampa operations,” Marshall N. Morton, the company's president and chief executive said in a statement, according to the Canadian Press.

Media General publishes The Tampa Tribune, Winston-Salem Journal and Richmond Times-Dispatch.