The TLC spokeswoman who dealt with controversies over "Jon & Kate Plus 8" and "All-American Muslim" lists "Sarah Palin's Alaska" her most "sensitive project." Gee, I wonder why?

Courtesy of the New York Times:

Every public relations executive has to manage a crisis from time to time. But in the last few years, Laurie Goldberg has had a career’s worth.

As the top spokeswoman for the cable channel TLC, Ms. Goldberg has handled the spotlight on Sarah Palin’s reality show, the rise and fall of “Jon & Kate Plus 8,” and a legal spat over “Sister Wives,” a show about polygamists, just to name a few. Last month, it was a documentary-style reality show about Muslim families in Michigan, “All-American Muslim,” that suddenly became a press sensation. A man in Florida called for an advertiser boycott, and Lowe’s, the home improvement retailer, listened. By Dec. 12, reporters were calling, cable news producers were scrambling and politicians were fuming. 

“We’ve been fairly prominent in the pop culture,” said Eileen O’Neill, who oversees TLC, “and I don’t think I would have had the confidence to navigate it without Laurie’s skill set.” 

Personally I would have thought that dealing with the backlash directed at the "All-American Muslim" show would have easily qualified as the most sensitive that this woman had been forced to deal with.

But I would have been wrong.


Perhaps Ms. Goldberg’s most sensitive project was Ms. Palin’s reality show, for which she put aside her strong Democratic views. 

She traveled to the Palins’ home in Wasilla repeatedly, dining one night on smoked caribou and salmon that had been hunted and fished by Todd Palin. (They do this just for show. There are plenty of places to get food in Wasilla, that does not have to be hunted by Todd Palin, or Papa Heath.)

She even baby sat the children one rainy day when, in a programming stunt of sorts, Ms. Gosselin went camping with Ms. Palin. In the ensuing episode, Ms. Goldberg can be seen listening to Ms. Gosselin list her grievances about the trip — “I am freezing to the bone. ... I’m hungry.” (In case you forgot that episode, you can see an excerpt here.)

“I felt like Forrest Gump,” Ms. Goldberg told Ms. O’Neill when she returned. 

In an interview, Ms O’Neill joked: “I’m still paying for that trip.” 

Ms. Palin’s series ended last January, but just a couple of weeks ago, reporters started asking whether the show would have a second season. (There are just some “initial conversations” going on, Ms. O’Neill said.) 

Asked at the time whether TLC had any comment, Ms. Goldberg pecked out a one-word answer on her iPad: “Nope.” 

Gee I wonder what the most "sensitive" part was for Goldberg?

Was it pretending that Sarah was not a lunatic? Filming around the real scandalous things happening in the home? Or dealing with Palin's bizarre mood swings? (Though admittedly Gosselin's had to be fairly difficult as well.)

Or perhaps it was just having to sit around, as a good Democrat, and listen to these under educated morons trash the President, and wax philosophical (Using that term loosely here.) about how great the country would have been if only Sarah "freaking" Palin had been the VP?
 
By the way, despite Mark Burnett's teasing on Palin's behalf, it certainly does not sound like TLC is terribly interested in working on a season two of SPA, now does it?