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 [Fox News] 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.'' SON-IN-LAW TWO



Alasdair MacLeod's sudden exit from News Ltd in Australia has proved no less intriguing. MacLeod was shuffled out of Nationwide News in a move that hived off The Australian as a separate division to be headed by experts from News's digital operations. The move to position The Australian as News Ltd's dominant digital brand is the most aggressive push to date in an environment where competitors including Fairfax Media, publisher of the Herald, are closely watching global trends on how to profit as readers shift from newspapers to online. Fresh competition emerged this week to Sky News Network, which News Corp part owns, with the announcement by the ABC's ambitious chief executive, Mark Scott, that the corporation would set up a 24-hour news channel. In the push for continued relevance, family has unusually had to make way. MacLeod, married to Prudence, the only child from Murdoch's first marriage, to Patricia Booker, left News Ltd to pursue other opportunities - potentially still within News Corp. His departure may have longer-term relevance, particularly for Lachlan Murdoch.

When he retreated to Australia, Lachlan established a private vehicle, Illyria, that has had mixed success investing in the media. Plans for a joint venture with James Packer to buy Consolidated Media Holdings collapsed in the days before the global credit crisis. Even Rupert mused that Lachlan had been ''lucky''. Kerry Stokes has since taken the box seat with a large stake at CMH. Lachlan bought a stake in the regional broadcaster Prime Media. But there's no need to panic. Wolff says: ''There is this other problem which was openly talked about in the family when I was writing the book, which is that everyone expects Lachlan to buy the Australian operations - take over the Australian operations and ultimately buy it.' Loading ''And that would have been problematic for Alasdair. So I think that part of this dynamic has been what to do with Alasdair.''

But it's not straightforward. ''How it's discussed in the family is that it probably won't happen until Rupert departs this veil of tears. Rupert doesn't want to sell the newspapers because he's incapable of selling a newspaper even to his own son. And his son doesn't want to work for him. So you know within the family the view is that Lachlan buys the Australian newspapers after Rupert dies. Of course Rupert may not die until Lachlan's an old man and newspapers have ceased to exist. That could be a bit of a complication to this plan.''