From News Services and Staff Reports
Monday, May 7, 2007

NEW YORK, May 6 -- Rupert Murdoch's bid for Dow Jones & Co. ran into more resistance as a large Dow Jones shareholder said he strongly opposes the takeover of the financial news publisher, which owns the Wall Street Journal.

Jim Ottaway Jr., a former Dow Jones board member, wrote in an opinion article published Monday on The Washington Post's op-ed page that a Murdoch takeover would diminish the "independence of a leading national editorial voice."

The article was also published Sunday on the Journal's Web site.

Ottaway, whose family controls about 6.2 percent of Dow Jones's voting power, said he also opposes a sale to Murdoch because it would further concentrate media ownership and influence.

The $5 billion bid for Dow Jones from Murdoch's News Corp. has already been opposed by Dow Jones's controlling shareholders, the Bancroft family.