Looking for no doubt their next sweeps story stunt, NBC sent a producer to the DEFCON convention wired with hidden cameras to try and get people to confess to a hacking crime. But the dumb producer got caught.
According to ZDnet Michelle Madigan was offered official press credentials no less than four times but refused them opting instead to put her hidden camera gear on and film and interview without disclosing it to attendants. She was told video taping was not allowed, and not knowing she’s speaking to a conference staffer said that she sees nothing wrong with what she’s doing and that people in Kansas would be very interested to know what was “really” going on at DEFCON. Redneck pandering much?
She didn’t take the oliver branch and DEFCON organizers set her up by announcing the “spot the undercover reporter” game at which time Madigan bolted as fast as she could followed by about 150 people armed with cameras all the way to her car.
ZDnet says there’s speculation Madigan was also after uncovering federal agents attending the conference. Which would seem pretty sensational to Bubba in Podunk, KS but it is something anyone who’s ever read anything about DEFCON because the feds go there to gain knowledge how to fight cyber crime and protect IT infrastructure. You know – Russian and Chinese hackers, probing US Government web sites looking for sensitive information, exploiting hardware and software …
Hype and pandering is so much easy tho.
ZDNet – Undercover NBC Dateline reporter bolts from DEFCON 2007
DEF CON – Official website
