Naomi Klein Abandons Shock Doctrine Documentary

As Johan Norberg carefully explained in our October 2008 issue, Naomi Klein's wildly popular book The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism offered a distorted and factually incorrect caricature of libertarian economist Milton Friedman. So naturally a documentary version couldn't be far behind. Yet as The Independent (UK) reports, Klein and filmmaker Michael Winterbottom simply could not agree on the finished product. But the anti-capitalist show must go on:

Winterbottom's work, which is to be broadcast on [BBC channel] More4 on 1 September, has led to such insurmountable creative tensions that Klein, who originally came on board to narrate the film and act as a consultant, does not appear in the credits as a writer or consultant, or act as its narrator.

A source at Channel 4 said the writer was so disappointed with Winterbottom's vision of her book—which she reportedly felt did not carefully lay out the thesis or explain the economics but instead made unproven assertions—that she sought to distance herself from the film after seeing the early cuts.

Wow, the thing really must be awful for Klein—who's no stranger to "unproven assertions"—to  be backpedalling so furiously. Perhaps she'd rather watch Norberg tell Reason.tv what's wrong with The Shock Doctrine: