Abstract: This paper researches the intentions and motivations that guide media producers to position different cultural perspectives in their programme. The Dutch documentary programme Metropolis functions as a case in point because the programme presents stories from people around the world produced by local journalists in collaboration with Dutch producers and editors. Its main aim is to confront Dutch audiences with diverse worldviews on a given topic. Against a theoretical background on media as a source of social imaginaries and cosmopolitanism, this study combined participatory observation, in-depth interviews and textual analysis to understand the choices these producers make. The analysis shows that while the programme's goal is to show different cultural perspectives on a given topic, the diverse worldviews of the correspondents are mostly presented through a dominant Dutch perspective for a range of reasons, leading to a limitation of the cosmopolitan potential of the programme.