News reports not a factor in Davy sacking, says TV chairman

1.00pm

The chairman of the new Maori Television Service says his decision to fire chief executive John Davy yesterday after less than seven weeks in the job had nothing to do with a series of Herald reports questioning the man's credentials.

Derek Fox, interviewed on National Radio today, rejected a suggestion that media coverage had prompted the recruitment agency Millennium People to dig into Mr Davy's claim to hold a Masters of Business Administration degree from a non-existent university.

"No, not at all," he responded.

"I mean, look, if you're trying to say that this was somehow something that was saved by the media -- as far as I know, we don't run this country through the media."

Mr Davy was fired after failing to provide the Maori Television Service board with a satisfactory explanation for his MBA degree from the so-called "Denver State University".

The chairman said yesterday that he acted promptly after he was alerted on Saturday morning by the recruitment agency that there was a problem with the degree.

The Herald had alerted Mr Fox the previous day that Mr Davy's degree could be bought over the internet for US$159 ($354) and had been raising questions about other aspects of his background since last Wednesday.

When faxed copies of the bogus MBA available over the internet, Mr Fox had told the Herald: "Look, I have to say I'm trying very hard to be calm here ... You haven't got one thing that has stood up."

But yesterday he told reporters that he flew from his Mahia home on Saturday and confronted Mr Davy that evening to seek an explanation.

The chairman has also defended the decision to use the Millenium People agency.

"We invited three recruiting agencies to tender for the jobs, and they were the successful tenderer," he told National Radio today.

He said a subcommittee of the board examined the tenders and chose the winner.

"The tender process was completely unflawed."

He said the recruitment agency had checked John Davy's last three places of employment "and a few checks like that".

They checked his MBA qualification "last Saturday, or last Friday night".

He indicated that checking of the university degree had not been a high priority.

"A number of people have told me that, by and large, they would put very little reliance on a qualification that was more than 25 years old."

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