[brudgers]

I wouldn't call this "the story behind" but rather "she said."

While I find it interesting that the author does not dispute the accuracy of the emails describing the talk as too controversial, what I find troubling is that the author insinuates that hiring a PR firm calls a person's character into question.

In 2010, the Sapling Foundation which owns TED spend more than $100,000 on PR:

http://dynamodata.fdncenter.org/990pf_pdf_archive/943/943235... [page 7].

See also "Who Owns TED?" http://www.ted.com/pages/42

[TeMPOraL]

At no point the author insinuates anything about how hiring a PR firm speaks of person's character. The post just simply states the facts that a) a PR firm was hired, and b) he/this firm issued threats to TED.