Editorial: Maori TV has much to explain

At a parliamentary hui last year to discuss the decision to set up a Maori television channel, Tai Tokerau elder Sir Graham Latimer emphasised that the best people must be appointed. "Don't let aroha get the best of you," he told his enthusiasts.

It seemed they had taken his warning to heart when they announced in March their choice of a 51-year-old Canadian with no knowledge of Maori language, and indeed no experience in television, to run the channel. Chairman Derek Fox said they had chosen John Davy, from a shortlist of six, for his strong financial and management skills.

Exactly who chose him, and how, is now a matter of intense public interest. The Herald's inquiries into his background and qualifications discovered he was unknown to universities in Denver where he said he had acquired a business degree, and unknown to the British Columbia Securities Commission, although he has said he was a member and adviser to it.

Furthermore, when challenged about his degree, the board of the Maori Television Service produced details that matched one of those available from a company selling false diplomas.

All of this raises a number of concerns, not the least being that it took a newspaper to make the checks. Mr Fox freely concedes his board did not make them because it had relied on a recruitment agency.

The agency in question was not one of the well-known recruitment companies. Few in the industry have heard of "Millennium People", a Wellington consultancy which has had little to say for itself since the discrepancies in Mr Davy's curriculum vitae came to light. But all say that checking the credentials of executive applicants is an elementary precaution in their business. Millennium People has some explaining to do.

So does the board. Sir Graham's admonition was not the only one heard at the hui last year. From the other side of Maori politics, MP Willie Jackson said, "We must never forget the nightmare of Aotearoa." The fate of that first foray into Maori television must have haunted all concerned with this venture. The memory ought to have made the board of the television channel take scrupulous care at every step.

They should not misunderstand the motives of those who scrutinise them. This newspaper applauded the creation of a channel dedicated to promoting the Maori language, and continues to wish it well. The enterprise may be constituted as a Maori entity rather than a more conventional Crown-owned company but its affairs remain very much a matter of public interest and proper Government concern.

The channel is being set up with grants from the Government in recognition of its obligation under the Treaty of Waitangi to preserve the Maori language. If the channel fails, the Crown's obligation under the treaty remains. Until that obligation is discharged there is no way that Maori broadcasters can pretend their appointments, investments and expenditure are nobody else's business.

While the recipients of treaty settlements often argue the money awarded to them ceases to be public money, they behave as though it was. They do not try to minimise their overheads, as a private enterprise does until it has built a sufficient revenue stream to afford something better. Mr Fox's company was negotiating to lease premises in Viaduct Harbour this month.

It is the conventional disciplines that make people careful. If the board of Maori television had been answerable either to private shareholders or to the Treasury, it probably would not have found itself in the embarrassment it faces today.

Full coverage: Maori TV