By Frances Grant
A documentary on the medical condition Munchausen's By Proxy syndrome, which was to have aired last night on TV One's Assignment, was postponed after a rethink on some of its content.
TV One's head of news and current affairs, Paul Cutler, said he decided to delay screening the British programme because it needed a local perspective on its controversial subject. It would probably screen in a few weeks.
"We did promo it in good faith but we've since had a look at the content in itself and I decided it's probably the best thing if we have a look and see how best we can context it here."
The documentary, called Someone To Watch Over Me, includes hidden-camera footage of parents suffering from the syndrome, which drives them to injure or kill their own children.
Mr Cutler said he believed the footage, secretly filmed by hospital clinicians and the police, was a properly controlled study.
"What we need to do is try to get a fix on the ramifications it might have here. Maybe we can get local experts to comment after the documentary."
This year two TVNZ programmes involving children have resulted in complaints to the Broadcasting Standards Authority being upheld.
Mr Cutler said the controversy sparked by a Holmes item on a child with attention deficit disorder, and the revelation of a child's paternity on TV2 show You Be The Judge, were part of the reason for the rethink. "That's part of it as well, we are very sensitive to those at the moment."
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