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Dialog NewsRoom Takes Australia & New Zealand News to the World, and Brings the World's News Here

Dialog NewsRoom Has More than 7,000 Content Sources, including Hundreds from Australia, New Zealand

SYDNEY, NSW (21 January, 2003) — Dialog, a Thomson (NYSE: TOC; TSX: TOC) business and a leading worldwide provider of online-based information services and integrated information solutions, said today that its Dialog NewsRoom service, a continually refreshed database of more than 7,000 news sources from around the world, now includes hundreds of publications, newswires and other information sources from across Australia and New Zealand.

Launched in March 2002, Dialog NewsRoom is a unified database of news sources that may be searched simultaneously using a single search command. Content sources include broadcast transcripts, newspapers, periodicals, newswires, trade and scholarly journals, and other content sources, in English and 10 other languages, drawn from nearly 100 countries. A large proportion of sources have archives going back to 2000, with some extending back to 1990. Pricing per document, and unlimited usage subscription pricing is available.

"Dialog NewsRoom is the most comprehensive online news tracking and current awareness service available, offering users a wide range of both big picture and grassroots perspectives through local and regional coverage," said Stuart Doig, Dialog vice president for the Asia Pacific region. "We are bringing the world's news to Australian and New Zealand desktops. And we're taking our region's news to Dialog subscribers worldwide."

Australian sources available through Dialog NewsRoom include such leading newspapers and newswires as The Age, Australian Associated Press, Australian Financial Review, The Australian, Brisbane News, Cairns Post, Cairns Sun, Canberra Times, Central Coast Express, City News, Courier Mail, Daily Telegraph, Free Press, Investor Weekly, Liverpool Leader, National Observer, Newcastle Herald, Sun Herald, Sunday Herald Sun, Sunday Mail, Sunday Telegraph, Sydney Morning Herald and Western Australian, among numerous others.

Leading newspapers from New Zealand available through Dialog NewsRoom include The New Zealand Herald, The Dominion, The Christchurch Press, Waikato Times, The Evening Standard, Southland Times and Sunday Star Times.

Dialog customers may access Dialog NewsRoom through a variety of Dialog services. It is a stand-alone Web-based service (www.dialognewsroom.com) available through subscription, and also a component of other online services offered by Dialog, including:

• the Dialog®-branded platform of online services
• Dialog DataStar™
• Dialog NewsEdge
• Dialog Profound®.

Dialog NewsRoom users look to the service to track general, business, political and specialized types of news and current events. The service can be a platform on which to build current events tracking, competitive intelligence, knowledge management and communications programs for corporations, financial firms, government agencies, public policy organizations, news and research services, universities and others.

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About Dialog
Dialog, a pioneer in developing the technology behind electronic information retrieval, is the world leader in providing online-based information services to organizations seeking competitive advantages in such fields as business, science, engineering, finance and law.

Today, Dialog's online services — offered through the Dialog®, Dialog Profound®, Dialog DataStar™, NewsEdge and Intelligence Data brands — give users the ability to precisely retrieve data from more than 1.4 billion unique records, accessible via the Internet or through delivery to enterprise intranets. Searchable content includes articles and reports from thousands of real-time news feeds, newspapers, broadcast transcripts and trade publications, plus research reports and analyst notes providing support for financial decision-making, as well as in-depth repositories of scientific and technical data, patents, trademarks and other intellectual property data.

Corporate librarians, knowledge managers, other information professionals and end-users at more than 25,000 business, professional and government organizations in more than 100 countries prize Dialog services for their depth and breadth of content, precision searching and speed.

Based in Cary, N.C., USA, Dialog has operations in 31 other countries worldwide. For more information about Dialog, please visit www.dialog.com. Or, please call (U.S./Canada) 800-3-DIALOG or (U.S.) 919-462-8600. Dialog's London office may be reached at (44) (0) 207-940-6900.

About The Thomson Corporation
The Thomson Corporation (www.thomson.com), with 2001 revenues of US$7.2 billion, is a global leader in providing integrated information solutions to business and professional customers. Thomson provides value-added information, software applications and tools to more than 20 million users in the fields of law, tax, accounting, financial services, higher education, reference information, corporate training and assessment, scientific research and healthcare. The Corporation's common shares are listed on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges (NYSE: TOC; TSX: TOC).

Designated trademarks used herein are the property of The Dialog Corporation or its subsidiaries. Registered marks are registered by The Dialog Corporation or its subsidiaries with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. All other marks are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

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