MORRIS NAMES CORPORATE DIRECTOR OF CLASSIFIEDS

AUGUSTA, Ga.—Anthony Marsella Jr. has been named to the newly created position of corporate director of classified advertising for Morris Communications. The announcement was made today by President William S. Morris IV.      

Marsella, who will assume his new responsibilities June 16, has been vice president of classified advertising for the Newspaper Association of America (NAA), Vienna, Va., since 1992. Prior to that he was vice president of real estate for the Newspaper Advertising Bureau, New York, N.Y., for 11 years. Earlier in his career, Marsella was vice president of career development for Berg Enterprises, a publicly traded real-estate brokerage firm in Iselin, N.J.      

In 1995, Marsella was the recipient of the annual McGovern Award, the highest award presented to an executive in the newspaper business who contributes most to leadership and growth in classified advertising nationally.      

"Tony Marsella has a long and outstanding history of success with the newspaper industry in the critical areas of real estate, recruitment and automotive advertising," Morris said. "His wealth of experience and his personal charisma make him an excellent choice to lead our company in addressing today's major revenue challenges in classified advertising."      

Morris added that the new position was created to focus the company's energies on the aggressive challenges to newspaper dominance in the classified segment, a major revenue source for the industry. Marsella will develop new classified initiatives and strategies for Morris properties across the country. He will report dually to Carl N. Cannon and James C. Currow, both Morris vice presidents for newspapers.      

Morris Communications is a privately held media company with diversified holdings that include newspaper and magazine publishing, outdoor advertising, radio broadcasting, book publishing and distribution, and online services. For more information, visit www.morris.com.