Glass Lewis Recommends TEGNA Shareholders Vote “FOR” ALL 12 TEGNA Director Nominees

TEGNA Inc. (NYSE: TGNA) today announced that leading independent proxy advisory firm Glass Lewis & Co. joined Institutional Shareholder Services (“ISS”) in recommending that TEGNA shareholders vote on the GOLD proxy card “FOR” all 12 of TEGNA’s director nominees at the Annual Meeting of Shareholders on May 7, 2021.

As Glass Lewis stated in its report: “…we are of the opinion that the Dissident has again failed to establish a sufficient case for change, and that the current members of the board and management team remain better suited and qualified as directors than Standard General's nominees to oversee Tegna's operating strategy and governance. Thus, upon an updated review of Standard General's campaign for minority board representation at Tegna, we have determined that Tegna shareholders would be best served by voting to re-elect the Company's entire board of directors.”

Howard Elias, Chairman of the Board, said, “We are pleased that both Glass Lewis and ISS – the two leading independent proxy advisory firms – recommend that TEGNA shareholders vote for our entire slate of highly qualified, engaged and diverse directors. Their support is further validation of the Board and management team’s record of value creation as well as our continued progress in implementing industry-leading ESG and DE&I initiatives across the company. We have great confidence in our ability to continue overseeing and guiding this progress in alignment with our long-term strategy. We strongly encourage TEGNA shareholders to follow these recommendations and vote for all of TEGNA’s nominees on the gold proxy card.”

In making its recommendation, Glass Lewis also noted:

• “In reviewing Standard General's renewed campaign, investors might expect the investor's continuing push for board level changes to be based on perceived deterioration in Tegna's operating performance or stock price. Yet, in Tegna's case, we see the Company reported record operating performance for 2020 across all key financial metrics, issued strong guidance for 2021 (including record preliminary results for the first quarter), paid down debt, authorized a share repurchase program, announced an increase in its dividend, while also taking steps to improve its corporate governance. In our view, Tegna currently appears to be firing on all cylinders. Indeed, investors and analysts have taken notice of the Company's strong results and their approval of Tegna's actions and performance in the last year is reflected in Tegna's stock price trading at an all-time high since it became a pure-play broadcast company and appointed Mr. Lougee as CEO in 2017.”
• “In light of what we consider to be strong absolute and relative performance and improvement during the last 18 to 24 months, we don't believe changes in board composition are warranted ... This is particularly true given what we consider to be a shortage of specific ideas from Standard General on how its nominees might catalyze further improvements in Tegna's operational execution and financial results.”
• “We believe the Company's recent performance and returns are attributable to Tegna's current management team and the board, not to any supposed contributions or suggestions made by the Dissident.”

We encourage shareholders to vote to reelect TEGNA’s highly qualified, engaged and diverse directors using the GOLD proxy card so that the Board and management team can continue to execute the company’s strategy to maximize value for ALL shareholders. Discard any white proxy cards received.