New York Times reporter Linda Greenhouse turned herself into either a martyr for journalistic integrity or an example of what happens to the ego when your business card reads "reporter, New York Times."

To catch you up, Greenhouse agreed to speak on a panel called "Covering the Court(s): Reporters on the Supreme Court Beat" in Washington, D.C. at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication convention. Depending on who you believe, one of the following happened: 1) She showed up at the panel, was surprised when she saw C-SPAN's cameras there (panelists were supposedly notified about the TV broadcast the night before), and gave organizers the ultimatum of choosing her (a NYT reporter!) or C-SPAN; 2) She showed up at the panel, was surprised when she saw C-SPAN's cameras there, and organizers opted to get rid of C-SPAN before it became an issue.

Greenhouse's issue: Not with her words being televised (after all, she's appeared on C-SPAN broadcasts dozens of times), but that she wasn't prepared to filter her words for a TV audience when she walked into the panel thinking it'd be a more intimate setting. Or as intimate as it gets appearing on a panel in front of a room full of conference attendees.

The Columbia Journalism Review would have you believe Scenario 1. Slate's Jack Shafer is pushing Scenario 2. We're going with Scenario 3: Until C-SPAN starts providing make-up and hair girls like a decent TV network, nobody should agree to be on there.