John Fairfax Holdings Limited
ACN 008 663 161

New Tabloid Appeals To New Readers - Major Advertisers Commit

MELBOURNE, February 5, 2001 – John Fairfax Holdings Limited [ASX:FXJ] has today launched a new, free daily tabloid newspaper designed for commuters in Melbourne during the AM peak period. Beginning today, Melbourne Express will hit the streets each weekday outside of major suburban rail and other public transport hubs.

Mr Fred Hilmer, CEO of Fairfax, said:

"We believe, as has been the case in Europe and the Americas, that a free daily tabloid for morning commuters is a new market with potential prospects for commercial success. This is an extension of our franchise into new audiences that appreciate a fast, easy-to-read tabloid.

"Melbourne Express is what we call The Fast Newspaper - a completely new and different type of newspaper that appeals to a large audience of new newspaper readers who are affluent, live an urban lifestyle and want to be aware of what is happening in their city today. Melbourne Express will deliver a fresh, informative and engaging product to commuters, and provide a new quality readership demographic to advertisers.

"We are confident commuters will want to catch Melbourne Express on their way to work."

Several hundred thousand commuters take trains to work in Melbourne each weekday, and up to 20% of them read newspapers when commuting. Extensive quantitative research and focus groups given sample Express-style newspapers demonstrated significant enthusiasm for the product, its content and format. Of particular appeal is a morning free newspaper with topical information for people on the move.

"By attracting new readers, who are not reading The Age in significant numbers, we believe this new tabloid paper will not compete with our morning broadsheet masthead, even as we add tens of thousands of readers to a new Fairfax publication. This is a different publication for different readers, and contributes to our overall growth in the market, " Mr Hilmer said.

"As an advertising medium, Melbourne Express provides an excellent platform for a highly desirable readership. Initially, over 200,000 commuters in greater Melbourne will pass within reach of Melbourne Express."

Ms Merilyn (Mel) Wharton, Assistant Publisher of The Sydney Morning Herald, has been named General Manager for the initiative, and will serve as publisher of the new paper. Mr Andrew Holden, Managing Editor, Production, for The Age, is editor. Melbourne Express will be printed at Spencer Street on Monday-Thursday, and at Rural Press on Fridays. The paper will in the near future be on the net through a new website with links to f2, the Fairfax Interactive Network.

The paper is the first major new daily introduced in Australia since the Daily Sun in 1982.

Ms Wharton said:

"Melbourne Express will bring a liveliness and freshness, with new features, to our readers. There will be a breadth of content and colour, with an accessible tone and style. There will be a significant linkage to our publications on the web, and print features designed to highlight web sites and web events. We have excellent editors, a terrific, enthusiastic staff, and we are ready to roll."

The paper has received commitments from advertisers prior to publication. Each weekday morning, the paper will be handed to commuters by teams of distributors outside major rail and other public transport stations in the suburbs, and in key CBD locations.

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For further information, please contact Bruce Wolpe, Manager, Corporate Affairs, 02 9282 3640

Note to editors:

John Fairfax Holdings [ASX:FXJ] is Australia's leading publishing group. Its mastheads include The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian Financial Review, The Age, The Sun-Herald, and BRW. In addition, the Company publishes financial and consumer magazines, regional and community newspapers, and provides online and interactive services.

In 2000, the Company had revenues of over $1.3 billion. Fairfax, through f2, its wholly owned subsidiary for its online and interactive businesses, is building a strong position in e-commerce and is Australia's leading content provider on the Internet.

The Company's key areas of focus include CitySearch Directories, SOLD.com.au (shopping and auctions), classified supersites (drive.com.au, mycareer.com.au, domain.com.au), financial services, news and sport. The extensive network of more than 30 sites attracts over 2.4 million page views per day (2.5 million site visits per week).

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