May 7 (Bloomberg) -- James Ottaway Jr., whose family controls 6.2 percent of voting rights at Dow Jones & Co., opposes a $5 billion takeover bid by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., saying it threatens the publisher's editorial integrity.

Dow Jones's brand name and its reputation for ``accurate, fair, objective and reliable business news reporting'' would be ``damaged'' if News Corp. acquired the company, Ottaway said in a statement yesterday on the Wall Street Journal's Web site. His son, Jay, voiced similar opposition in a separate statement.

``Rupert Murdoch comes from a very different tradition of Australian-British media ownership and editorial practice in which he has for a long time expressed his personal, political and business biases through his newspapers and television channels,'' the senior Ottaway said. News Corp. spokesman Andrew Butcher didn't immediately return after-hours calls to his New York office and cell phone. Dow Jones spokeswoman Linda Dunbar didn't return an after-hours call to her office in New York.

Dow Jones, publisher of the Wall Street Journal, said last week that its board wouldn't act on News Corp.'s May 1 offer of $60 a share because Bancroft family members, who have 52 percent of the voting power, oppose the bid. Backing from the Ottaway family members increases the opposition to at least 58 percent.

The Ottaways acquired their stake in New York-based Dow Jones in 1970 when the company bought the family's chain of community newspapers. The Bancrofts are descendants of Jane Bancroft, whose stepfather, Clarence Barron, acquired Dow Jones in 1902, 20 years after it was founded by Charles Dow, Edward Jones, and Charles Bergstresser.

Opposition

News Corp.'s offer for Dow Jones, which also owns Barron's and Dow Jones Newswires, was 65 percent above the previous day's closing stock price. Bancroft family members voiced opposition almost immediately.

The Bancrofts hold about 64 percent of the voting power at Dow Jones through Class A and Class B shares, while owning about 25 percent of the company. News Corp.'s bid values the Bancroft stake at about $1.23 billion. Christopher Bancroft and cousins Elizabeth Steele and Leslie Hill, a retired airline pilot, are on the board.

Warren Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., said Murdoch, New Corp's chairman, is attracted to Dow Jones partly because of the prestige of the company.

``Rupert would even acknowledge that some part of his interest in the Wall Street Journal goes beyond economics,'' Buffett said yesterday at a press conference in Omaha, Nebraska.

The Class A shares fell 29 cents to $55.51 at 4:01 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. They have climbed 47 percent this year.

`Greatest Newspaper'

Murdoch, 76, has long coveted Dow Jones, whose Wall Street Journal is the second-biggest selling newspaper in the U.S. behind Gannett Co.'s USA Today. Murdoch last week described the Journal as ``the greatest newspaper in America.''

Dow Jones's business media assets would dovetail with News Corp.'s Fox Business News channel, which is scheduled to start broadcasting later this year. News Corp. also publishes 170 newspapers including The Times of London and the New York Post.

Murdoch's offer represents about 17 times Dow Jones's projected 2007 profit, based on estimates by Prudential Equity Group analyst Steven Barlow in New York. Newspapers have been selling at 10 times to 11 times earnings, Barlow said. Sam Zell's proposed acquisition of Chicago-based Tribune Co. was at 10 times projected 2007 earnings.

Like Ottaway, Dow Jones employees say the Journal's credibility would be hurt under Murdoch.

``Murdoch has shown a willingness to crush quality and independence,'' the Independent Association of Publishers' Employees union said last week. ``There is no reason to think he would handle Dow Jones or the Journal any differently.''

Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP competes with Dow Jones in providing financial news and information.

To contact the reporter on this story: Vivek Shankar in San Francisco at vshankar3@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: May 7, 2007 16:28 EDT