[CANWEST GLOBAL COMMUNICATIONS CORP. LOGO]

                                  NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JANUARY 24, 2005

               CANWEST COMMENCES ARBITRATION AND OBTAINS TEMPORARY
                RESTRAINING ORDER AGAINST MIRKAEI TIKSHORET LTD.

    Alleging Breach of Agreements Governing Acquisition of The Jerusalem Post

Winnipeg - CanWest Global Communications Corp. today announced that it has
commenced an arbitration against Mirkaei Tikshoret Ltd. (MTL) for unilateral
breach of binding agreements between MTL and CanWest governing a joint
acquisition of all assets comprising The Jerusalem Post, The Jerusalem Report
and their respective publications, internet web sites and online properties
(collectively, the "JPost Group").

CanWest also obtained a Temporary Restraining Order from the Supreme Court of
New York prohibiting MTL and all others acting with them or on their behalf,
from taking any action that would result in the disposal, transfer or
encumbrance of any of the securities or assets of the JPost Group anywhere in
the world, and prohibiting them from terminating any employees or any
contractual relationships in the publications.

The Agreements at issue establish a binding framework for the joint acquisition
by CanWest and MTL of JPost Group in a two step process that would ultimately
transfer all of the business and assets of the JPost Group to a newly formed
company owned equally by CanWest and MTL. CanWest alleges that MTL breached the
agreements by refusing to transfer the assets to the new entity. CanWest is
seeking enforcement of all the provisions in the agreements, including CanWest's
right to appoint the Chairman of the new entity and a majority of its Board of
Directors.

Commenting on the current circumstances, Leonard Asper, President and Chief
Executive Officer of CanWest, said, "It is regrettable that MTL has chosen not
to honor the terms of its agreements with CanWest. We are confident that in due
course we will be awarded our ownership interest and majority position on the
board of The Jerusalem Post, in accordance with these agreements."

CanWest Global Communications Corp. (NYSE: CWG; TSX: CGS.SV and CGS.NV,
www.canwestglobal.com) is an international media company, and also Canada's
largest media company. In addition to owning the Global Television Network,
CanWest is Canada's largest publisher of daily newspapers, and also owns,
operates and/or holds substantial interests in conventional television,
out-of-home advertising, specialty cable channels, Web sites and radio networks
in Canada, New Zealand, Australia and Ireland.
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For further information contact:

Geoffrey Elliot, Vice President, Corporate Affairs   Tel: (204) 956-2025
Fax: (204) 947-9841
gelliot@canwest.com