In March this year, the Wall Street Journal Europe published an article on women in boardrooms. In a question and answer with a partner at a strategy and learning consultancy the paper asked the question: did companies with executive boards that had a high concentration of women have better results? That interview with Dutch firm Executive Learning Partnership Network, and an article featuring the same firm published in October 2010 are now at the centre of a new controversy engulfing the media empire of Rupert Murdoch.

The figure at the heart of the scandal is Mr Andrew Langhoff, who stepped down as the publisher of Wall Street Journal Europe , and the Managing Director of Dow Jones for Europe, Africa and West Asia. It follows an investigation by the Guardian newspaper, which alleges that the Wall Street Journal Europe made payments to ELP, whereby the company bought 12,000 copies of the European edition of the Wall Street Journal Europe and published positive news stories. It was part of a wider programme began in 2008 to boost circulation in Europe, the paper contends.

Parent company Dow Jones has vehemently denied allegations of impropriety around circulation, arguing that its circulation programmes were widely disclosed and certified by Britain's Audit Bureau of Circulation. The practice of sponsored distribution to business schools and universities was common in the industry and clearly identified in all WSJE publisher statements, it said, describing payments to EPL as “complex but legitimate'. (The paper no longer has a relationship with ELP). Mr Andrew Langhoff resigned because of a perceived breach of editorial integrity, Dow Jones insisted. Once again the Murdoch empire is mired in a controversy over media ethics: What counts as a legitimate means of boosting circulation and what doesn't?

According to the ABC's latest certification for the paper, covering the period of January to June, net circulation of the Wall Street Journal Europe reached 74,800. Regular bulk sales make up the majority of its sales: 46,137 with just over 26,000 sold at below 5 per cent of the basic cover price, according to the report. Individual subscriptions account for just 6,407. The controversy couldn't come at a worse time for News Corp, which acquired Dow Jones in 2007. The News Corp annual general meeting is due to take place next week. A few days later, Mr Les Hinton, the former Publisher of the Wall Street Journal will testify to a British parliamentary inquiry on the phone hacking scandal.

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