John Fairfax Holdings Limited
ACN 008 663 161

Robert Whitehead appointed Editor of The Sydney Morning Herald
Mark Scott, Director, Organisation Development for Fairfax

SYDNEY, October 24, 2000 – John Fairfax Holdings Limited [ASX:FXJ] today announced several senior appointments.

Robert Whitehead, Director of Group Publishing, is the new editor of The Sydney Morning Herald. He replaces Paul McGeough, who will become Reporter-at-Large for the Herald, based in New York. Mr Whitehead has previously served as news editor of the Herald, and General Manager of Sydney Operations. Most recently, he took on overall responsibility of Fairfax’s Olympics coverage.

Mark Scott, Managing Editor of the Saturday Sydney Morning Herald, has been appointed Director, Organisation Development for Fairfax, a new position. He becomes a member of the Executive Management Team and will report directly to Mr Fred Hilmer, CEO. Mr Scott will assume responsibility for providing leadership to the Group in human resources management, including policy development, career planning, learning and development and industrial relations. At the Herald, Mr Scott has served as education editor, news editor, and deputy editor (news). He holds a Masters of Public Administration from Harvard and was a policy advisor to former NSW Premier Nick Greiner’s government.

Mr Fred Hilmer, CEO of Fairfax said, "These appointments are part of a series of changes designed to strengthen our organisation and our people. After two years of improvement and corporate development, we are taking the next steps to broaden and deepen the senior management team at Fairfax. These individuals are immensely skilled, and in their new roles will help build our business and provide a pool of executive talent for new challenges and responsibilities as the Company grows in the future."

Mr Greg Hywood, Publisher and Editor-in Chief of The Sydney Morning Herald, said:

"For over two years, Paul McGeough has been an excellent editor of the Herald. Under Paul, the paper has broken many stories, added new sections, undergone a sweeping and successful re-design, and delivered an outstanding Olympics coverage that left the opposition floundering. He leaves with circulation healthy and the paper in significantly better shape than when he took over, and with one of our best fields of Walkley Award finalists.

"But now that the Olympics are over and the re-design is firmly in place, I have asked him to accept a new challenge, as Reporter-at-Large based in New York.

"This will be the paper’s most senior reporting position and I’m confident Paul will deliver with the same energy and commitment he put into the Editorship. As editor, he deservedly won the respect of his colleagues at the Herald, and his peers in the industry.

"Robert Whitehead is an outstanding newspaper executive, well known to Herald journalists. His role will be to build on Paul’s legacy to take the Herald to even higher levels of success."

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For further information:
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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