NEW YORK -- Members of the family that controls Dow Jones jostled over their positions on News Corp.'s $5 billion bid Friday, as a dark horse rival prepared a revised proposal.

Reports in Dow Jones' The Wall Street Journal suggest that the Bancrofts remain divided over the buyout offer from Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., with one family member writing a 4,000-word letter to persuade his relatives to accept the deal while another faction, based in Denver, pushed for a higher price.

Meanwhile, family lawyers are trying to change the voting structure of the biggest trust held by the Bancrofts, a move that could reduce the influence of Christopher Bancroft, a staunch opponent of the Murdoch bid, the newspaper reported.

"The fact is that there are no better alternatives out there now and Murdoch, like it or not, has what it takes to help the business flourish," Crawford Hill, a family member who supports the sale, wrote in a letter to family members that was posted on the newspaper's web site. "He will not have naked bodies in the WSJ -- he is not a moron."

The only competing proposal that still appears to be on the table is from Internet entrepreneur Brad Greenspan, who said late Friday that he was revising his plan.

"We want to get an equal crack at this thing," he said, adding that other family members were interested in his proposal. He declined to name them.