RNS Number:0225R
Johnston Press PLC
17 October 2003


Johnston Press plc ("the Company")

NOTIFICATION OF SHAREHOLDING

The Company received notification on 16 October 2003 that:

a) FMR Corp., the parent holding company of Fidelity Management & Research
Company ("FMRCO"), investment manager for US mutual funds, and Fidelity
Management Trust Company ("FMTC"), a US state chartered bank which acts as a
trustee or investment manager of various pension and trust accounts.

b) Fidelity International Limited ("FIL"), the parent holding company for
various direct and indirect subsidiaries, including Fidelity Investment Services
Ltd ("FISL"), and Fidelity Pension Management ("FPM"), investment managers for
various non-US investment companies and institutional clients,

have a notifiable interest in the Ordinary Shares of the Company.

The notifiable interests also comprise the notifiable interest of Mr Edward C.
Johnson 3rd, a principal shareholder of FMR Corp. and Fidelity International
Limited.

The notifiable interests include interest held on behalf of authorised unit
trust schemes in the U.K., notwithstanding the exemption from reporting pursuant
to Section 209(1)(h) of the Companies Act 1985.

These notifications of disclosable interests constitute separate notifications
of interest in the shares and are combined solely for the purposes of clarity.
Nothing herein should be taken to indicate that FMR Corp. and its direct and
indirect subsidiaries, Fidelity International Limited and its direct and
indirect subsidiaries, or Mr Edward C. Johnson 3rd act as a group or in concert
in respect of the disclosed interests, or that they are required to submit these
notifications on a joint basis.

The disclosable interests arise under section 208(4)(b) of the Act, namely where
a person, not being the registered holder, is entitled to exercise a right
conferred by the holding of the shares or to control the exercise of such
rights, or under section 203 of the Act respectively.


The registered holders are as follows:-
Registered Holder                        Management Company    Shares held
HSBC                                     FMRCO                 8,000,030
Chase Nominees Ltd                       FMRCO                 1,825,800
State Street Nominees Ltd                FMRCO                 215,570
State Street Nominees Ltd                FMTC                  25,700
Brown Brothers Harriman                  FMTC                  18,180
State Street Bank & Trust                FMTC                  14,600
Chase Nominees Ltd                       FISL                  1,755,370
Chase Manhattan Bank London              FISL                  42,053
RBS Trust Bank                           FPM                   41,222
Nortrust Nominees Ltd                    FPM                   68,662
BT Globenet Nominees Ltd                 FPM                   13,780
Citibank                                 FPM                   28,214
Bank of New York London                  FPM                   32,322
Bankers Trust                            FPM                   903,500
HSBC Client Hlds Nom (UK)                FPM                   454,900
Bankers Trust                            FIL                   26,800
Citibank                                 FIL                   20,686
RBS Trust Bank                           FIL                   233,678
Chase Nominees Ltd                       FIL                   22,700
Bank of New York Europe                  FIL                   97,961
HSBC                                     FIL                   2,688
Northern Trust                           FIL                   156,340
Bank of New York London                  FIL                   206,600
JP Morgan                                FIL                   76,300

                                         Total                 14,283,656

This represents 5.04% of the total amount of shares in issue.


                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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