Central Newspapers, Inc. reports revenues for four weeks ended July 28, 1996.

INDIANAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--August 15, 1996--Central Newspapers, Inc. today announced an increase of 10% in revenues for the four weeks ended July 28, 1996 compared with the four weeks ended July 23, 1995. Full run-of-press (ROP) advertising linage for the fiscal month was up 2.1% compared with the prior year. -0-

                              Revenue                % of
                           (In Thousands)           Change
                              Unaudited              from
                          1996        1995        Prior Year

Current period          $43,326      $39,395         +10%

Year-to-date           $343,939     $318,749        +7.9%

    Central Newspapers is a media company that publishes daily, Sunday
and weekly newspapers including the Arizona Republic and The Phoenix
Gazette; The Indianapolis Star and The Indianapolis News, and the
Alexandria Daily Town Talk in Louisiana, as well as smaller community
papers in Indiana.  It is the 11th largest publicly traded U.S.
newspaper company in terms of circulation.
-0-

PERIOD REVENUE AND STATISTICAL REPORT
(Unaudited)

                     FOUR WEEKS ENDED              THIRTY WEEKS ENDED
                July 28,   July 23,    %        Year-to-date          %
                  1996       1995    Change     1996        1995     Change

CONSOLIDATED REVENUES - NET:
 (in thousands)
 Advertising    $32,989    $29,928   10.2%    $262,822    $243,439    8.0%
 Circulation      9,845      9,284    6.0%      77,517      73,294    5.8%
 Other              492        183  168.8%       3,600       2,016   78.6%

   Total        $43,326(a) $39,395   10.0%    $343,939(a) $318,749    7.9%

AVERAGE PAID CIRCULATION:
 Phoenix:
  Morning       376,526    354,416    6.2%     410,671     397,559    3.3%
  Evening        42,868     71,039  -39.7%      55,427      76,818  -27.8%
  Sunday        549,209    540,757    1.6%     589,865     596,316   -1.1%

 Indianapolis:
  Morning       224,697    218,061    3.0%     230,752     225,888    2.2%
  Evening        53,217     70,781  -24.8%      57,761      76,476  -24.5%
  Sunday        394,342    390,422    1.0%     402,728     397,604    1.3%

ADVERTISING LINAGE FOR MAJOR
DAILIES: (thousands of inches)
 Full run ROP:
  Retail          215.1      225.3   -4.5%     1,766.7     1,887.5   -6.4%
  National         31.0       15.6   98.7%       224.2       170.0   31.9%
  Classified      279.2      273.8    2.0%     2,116.0     2,009.2    5.3%
   Total          525.3      514.7    2.1%     4,106.9     4,066.7    1.0%

 Part run ROP     132.9      169.7  -21.7%     1,272.0     1,309.5   -2.9%

FULL RUN LINAGE FOR
MAJOR MARKETS:
 Phoenix          314.3      321.1   -2.1%     2,528.7     2,504.7    1.0%
 Indianapolis     211.0      193.6    9.0%     1,578.2     1,562.0    1.0%
  Total           525.3      514.7    2.1%     4,106.9     4,066.7    1.0%

NUMBER OF
 PREPRINTS
 DISTRIBUTED        346        364   -4.9%       2,898       3,016   -3.9%

(a) Amounts include $1.2 million in the 1996 four week period and $7.3 million in the 1996 year to date period of revenues from the acquisition of the Alexandria Daily Town Talk which occurred in March 1996.

CONTACT: ARTHUR SCHMIDT & ASSOCIATES, INC.

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