Dow Jones deal could give Murdoch area papers

News Corp.'s bid for Dow Jones & Co. , if successful, would bring media mogul Rupert Murdoch's brand of journalism not only to The Wall Street Journal but also to more than a dozen New England newspapers from Maine to Nantucket.

All are part of Dow Jones' Ottaway group of local dailies and weeklies, acquired in 1970, including the Cape Cod Times and The Standard-Times of New Bedford.

So far Ottaway's future has largely been ignored in the debate over editorial independence and standards triggered by the $60-a-share bid for Dow Jones by Murdoch, chief executive of News Corp. of New York.

But some fear the New England properties would be an afterthought in Murdoch's quest for the crown jewel of the company, the Journal, and that he would sell them. Others worry that Murdoch might meddle in how the local papers choose and present the news.

James H. Ottaway Jr., a longtime company officer and still a major shareholder in Dow Jones, has been critical of Murdoch's potential impact on the Journal, and in a recent interview echoed those contentions about the papers that still bear his name.

"My concerns relate to his type of Australian-British journalism, in which the tradition is that the owner puts his personal and political biases on whatever his publications are," Ottaway said. "I would worry the Ottaway papers would be in the same danger."

But Ottaway also added that "I doubt he would pay much attention to them. It doesn't give him any power base."

If the chain were sold, one possible buyer would be GateHouse Media Inc. of Fairport, N.Y., which has been on an acquisition binge in Massachusetts since last year. GateHouse chief executive Michael Reed declined to discuss the possibility.

A News Corp. spokesman, Andrew Butcher, said the company won't discuss its intentions toward any specific local paper, but said overall the company intends to add resources to Dow Jones properties.

"We have a long history of well-funded operations that are extremely competitive in their markets," Butcher said. He cited the example of WFXT in Boston, one of 35 American television stations News Corp. owns, which he said has been given plenty of support and opened a new headquarters several years ago.

"News is what interests people, and our viewers, and we've got well-resourced news divisions that rate very well in local news," Butcher said.

Whatever the future, owning Ottaway would mark a change for News Corp., whose best-known US daily now is The New York Post, the racy tabloid with a daily circulation of 725,000 copies.

And formerly Murdoch owned the Boston Herald for about a dozen years until he was forced to sell it in 1994 due to federal restrictions against owning both newspapers and television stations in the same market.

In contrast, the Ottaway papers focus on nuts-and-bolts local events with a combined daily circulation of 282,000. In addition to New England, the group includes papers in New York, Pennsylvania, and on the West Coast.

Ottaway's roots date to 1936 when James Ottaway Sr. bought a semi weekly newspaper in Endicott, N.Y. The family sold the group to Dow Jones in 1970 but stayed active in the business and the unit remained distinct. Ottaway is one of the more profitable parts of Dow Jones, according to its most recent annual report, with operating income of $48.2 million on revenue of $252.2 million in 2006. In comparison, the group including The Journal and Barron's magazine had operating income of $33.9 million last year on revenue of $1.1 billion.

Murdoch, meanwhile, is among the most famed and feared publishers in the English-speaking world. On one hand he can claim some of the most successful media business launches of recent years, including News Corp.'s Fox News Channel. At the same time some of his properties have been criticized for taking partisan, mostly conservative, positions in their news coverage.

In the communities the Ottaway papers cover, Murdoch's reputation raises some concerns.

"He doesn't seem to have the same standards as Dow Jones," said Wendy Northcross, chief executive of the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce in Centerville, who is frequently quoted in the Cape Cod Times. "Nobody's perfect, but I think they do a pretty good job," she said of the paper.

Others like state Senator Mark C. Montigny, a New Bedford Democrat, says he worries News Corp. -- or any another buyer -- might put fewer resources into newsgathering.

To buy Dow Jones Murdoch must win over Bancroft family members , who control a majority of Dow Jones supervoting "Class B" shares and who themselves have deep New England connections. The family was scheduled to meet yesterday to discuss the offer, the Journal reported, citing unidentified sources. A representative, Michael Elefante of the Boston law firm of Hemenway & Barnes, hasn't returned messages. In addition, 6.2 percent of the Class B shares are owned by Ottaway, 69, and his three children including Cambridge resident James Wells Ottaway, 40.

Both men have previously opposed Murdoch's bid. In response, in a May 11 letter to the Bancrofts , Murdoch wrote that "maintaining the heritage of independence and journalistic integrity of The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones' other publications would be of utmost importance to me and to News Corp."

Murdoch also pledged to establish an editorial board to ensure the papers' editorial independence, though the letter's language seems to give the board extra responsibilities with regard to the Journal compared with other properties. Asked about this, Butcher wrote the issues would be best addressed with the Bancrofts and Dow Jones executives. "We haven't contemplated the issues you're raising," he wrote.

Ross Kerber can be reached at kerber@globe.com.