News Corporation, the parent company of The Times, faces a lengthy battle if it is to win control of Dow Jones, as members of the Bancroft family, who control the publisher of the The Wall Street Journal, struggle to reach a settled view on the $5 billion (£2.5 billion) bid.

There are still no plans for meetings between Rupert Murdoch, News Corp’s chief executive, and any members of the family, which has about three dozen members, with both sides instead making statements to the media.

There is not even a clear decision-making process in the family, let alone plans for a broad family meeting. On Wednesday, just one branch of the family, the Hills, met in Boston to discuss the offer and the lengthy meeting gave News Corp hope that some Bancrofts may want to open negotiations.

However, that view is not replicated elsewhere. Christopher Bancroft, a member of Dow Jones’s board and a key family member, said on the same day that he did not want to risk losing The Wall Street Journal’s independence.

Those who know the Bancrofts say that it has long been difficult to get the clan to reach a settled view about Dow Jones.

The family has controlled the company since 1902. A two-tier share structure gives them 64 per cent of the votes, despite owning only a quarter of the shares, but the shares are held in smaller blocks and controlled via trusts in a complex structure that gives many people, including nonfamily trustees, a say.

The difficulty for the family, though, is that News Corp’s $60-a-share offer, which came as a 67 per cent premium to the prevailing share price when it emerged at the beginning of the month, is seen across Wall Street as a good price. Dow Jones shares have not hit $60 since 2002. Lawsuits from other shareholders are a possibility.

For the moment Mr Murdoch is content to wait. A suggestion this week by an analyst, Rich Greenfield, of Pali Research, that News Corp might walk away in the next fortnight came as a surprise to the media group, whose assets include the Fox film studio and MySpace, as well as The Times.

It remains unclear how long the phoney war can continue. At some point, News Corp will walk or the Bancroft clan will reach a decision, perhaps at the urging of the company’s board or an independent shareholder, but there may be some waiting yet.

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