WASHINGTON, Sep 11, 2003 -- The Washington Post Company (NYSE: WPO) announced today that Ronald L. Olson has been elected to the Board of Directors. His election increases The Washington Post Company's Board of Directors to eleven members.

Mr. Olson is a partner in the Los Angeles office of the law firm Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP. He chairs the Board of Trustees for the RAND Corporation and was the founding chair the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Southern California Public Radio. Mr. Olson serves as a director of Berkshire Hathaway, Edison International, City National Corporation, and several non- profit institutions, including the California Institute of Technology and the Council on Foreign Relations. Mr. Olson is a member of the American Bar Association and formerly chaired its Litigation Section and Committee on the Federal Judiciary. He is also a member of the American College of Trial Lawyers, the American Law Institute, and the Los Angeles Business Advisors.

Mr. Olson's fields of specialization are commercial litigation and corporate governance counseling. He is a frequent speaker and panel member at law schools and professional associations in the United States and abroad. He has written for law publications and journals.

Mr. Olson was born in 1941. He received a BS from Drake University in 1963, a JD from the University of Michigan in 1966, and a Diploma in Law from Oxford University, England, in 1967.

    Mr. Olson and his wife live in Pasadena, California.

Rima Calderon of the Washington Post Company, +1-202-334-6617