Murdoch law:blood is best

[Mr. Sparkle]

Source: smh.com.au

The relatives are restless in the powerful news family and usually that means heads will roll. Michael Evans reports.

Everyone has a story about the in-laws. Not everyone's in-laws set off tales of intrigue and succession in a family-controlled media dynasty such as Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.

But there, on the front page of The New York Times, featuring prominently in a profile of Roger Ailes, the powerful head of News Corp's top-rating Fox television network, blazed a stinging rebuke from within the Murdoch family walls.

Matthew Freud, husband of Rupert's daughter Elisabeth and himself one of the most astute and influential public relations executives in London, revealed what members of the Murdoch family think of the conservative news channel, Fox News.

"I am by no means alone within the family or the company in being ashamed and sickened by Roger Ailes's horrendous and sustained disregard of the journalistic standards that News Corporation, its founder and every other global media business aspires to," Freud offloaded.

An experienced PR practitioner, Freud knew full well the likely impact of his comments. It was no Freudian slip.

The comments sparked a fresh round of dynastic speculation - was this a public execution of another non-Murdoch pretender to the throne? Is there fresh division over succession in the powerful family? More pointedly, did the comments have the family's blessing.

But it wasn't Rupert Murdoch's only in-law moment of late, coming just days after Alasdair MacLeod, the husband of his eldest daughter, Prudence, suddenly left Murdoch's Australian operations, reigniting questions about son Lachlan Murdoch's ambitions in Australia.

SON-IN-LAW ONE

Blood has long been viewed as thicker than water in the Murdoch empire. Every year, News Corp's annual report discloses payments made to ''related parties'', providing a glimpse of what Rupert's wife, sons, daughters and in-laws, earned from the family business.

And Matthew Freud's PR firm features prominently, earning $US1.5 million over the past three years.

Michael Wolff, the author of The Man Who Owns the News, a Murdoch biography, spent countless hours interviewing the Murdochs. Freud, he says, is no troublesome in-law but a "pivotal figure in this family dynamic".

''My view of Matthew is that it's not a son-in-law problem, in fact, he is acting as their instrument,'' Wolff told the Herald.

''Matthew is clearly doing the work of Elisabeth, his wife, and James, his brother-in-law, and I would strongly suspect he is also in touch with Lachlan. They have acted in concert here. I would almost guarantee that Rupert himself was aware of Matthew's comment before it was made. It was authored by committee, so to speak."

News Corp issued a statement saying: ''Matthew Freud's opinions are his own and in no way reflect the views of Rupert Murdoch, who is proud of Roger Ailes and Fox News.''

For his part, Ailes delighted in pointing out that Freud, the great-grandson of Sigmund, himself ''needs to see a psychiatrist''.

Freud's comments ran in a story on the rise of Ailes and Fox and its influence within the News empire. They also came the same week Fox appointed the failed Republican presidential candidate Sarah Palin as a political commentator.

A former media consultant to presidents Nixon and George Bush snr, Ailes is credited with turning Fox into a highly opinionated, conservative and spectacularly profitable network news channel. In fact the New York Times piece pointed out that Ailes's ''outsized success'' has placed him ''at the pinnacle of power in three corridors of American life: business, media and politics.''

But here's the rub: this man is not a Murdoch.

In fact, Lachlan Murdoch quit the family empire five years ago after a run-in with Ailes when Rupert backed the Fox boss over his son.

A spokesman for Lachlan Murdoch declined to comment.

Those close to the News camp in Australia say there is little doubt Freud's view reflects that of his wife. Michael Wolff goes further.

''I think the motive is that the family is very unhappy with Roger Ailes. I think they're unhappy with him for many reasons,'' Wolff says. ''I think they all feel it makes them look bad. I think the children are politically at odds with Roger Ailes.

''I think Rupert himself feels that Ailes is a monumental pain in the ass. He's said as much to me.

''He is unpopular among the controlling shareholders of this company and they slapped him down.''

Nevertheless, it's an easy fight to pick, criticising Ailes while the family enjoys the spectacular Fox profits, estimated at $US700 million.

''It's somewhat hypocritical, I suppose, because they still get the benefits of Roger's success, but I'm not sure how long that's going to last,'' Wolff says.

''I think they want him out of there. It takes about a year to fire somebody at News Corp so I think a year from now it's quite likely that Roger will no longer be there.''

News Corp's chief operating officer, Chase Carey, dismisses the idea. ''News Corp is 100 per cent behind Roger Ailes'', he told the Los Angeles Times. ''We hope and expect he will continue to lead Fox News well into the future.''

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/murdoch-lawblood-is-best-20100122-mqrd.html

[bigworld]

1. Get some popcorn

This is fun.

[flamin lib]

2. Verrrrry interesting. Could it be that somebody in the Murdoch family has scruples? nt