Did she think this of the potential consequences?

There are some actions you should take only after careful consideration, and there are some you shouldn't take at all.  Going undercover at Defcon with the intent to try and catch a hacker on camera agreeing to commit a crime definitely falls under the second category, something you shouldn't do at all.  Unluckily, Michelle Madigan from Dateline NBC failed to recognize the difference and was frightened and embarrassed at Defcon in front of a packed room of hackers, most of which was caught on camera as she tried to flee the scene. 

Jeff Moss and the organizers of Defcon gave Ms. Madigan several opportunities to pick up a press pass at the event, which she refused in the hopes of getting an exclusive, getting a hacker on camera agreeing to commit a felony.  Unluckily for her, the organizers of Defcon knew about her presence from the get go and were shadowing her every move.  Rumor has it that they were tipped off by a source inside her own organization.  She fled the scene when an angry crowd of hackers quoted Monty Python, screaming out "Burn the witch!"  Most of them were joking, but the reaction was more than enough to run her off.

I was in the room at the time, and I don't blame her for being scared, but for all the yelling and screaming, Ms. Madigan was never in any danger at the event.  The "Goons", the organizers of the event, were prepared to escort her from the building, if she hadn't fled.   She had been given every chance to play by the rules and refused, for which she was going to be removed from the event.

The folks at Defcon love the press and treated us with respect but the activities of this one person cast a shadow on all of our reputations.   Furthermore, I have to wonder if she really thought through what would happen if she'd been successful in her attempts to catch a hacker in a compromising situation.  Sure, she would have gotten a juicy, salacious story, but what about the backlash from the community she was trying to defame?  While many of the people at Defcon aren't much more than talented amateurs, some of them are the brightest minds in hacking and security available today.  And if she found someone who'd be willing to hack a business for her, what made her think that there wasn't also someone there who'd be willing to steal her identity, hack her home computer or compromise her bank account?

I feel bad for Ms. Madigan, and hope that the worst experience she has from this is a little embarrassment and maybe a reprimand from her bosses.  I hope that everyone from the event follows the lead of the more upstanding members of the hacker community and are satisfied with catching her on camera fleeing the scene.  But she may end up getting more than she bargained for and become the focus of a story about hackers, rather than the one getting the story.