NBC has announced that the couple that crashed the White House dinner, thus breaching national security as well as basic standards of honesty and manners, will appear on the Today Show. This adds one more reason to detest the two, who by combining the two things the news media can’t resist—the Obamas and reality show wannabes—have inspired the irresponsible news media to once again neglect genuinely important news events in favor of trivia. But the real ethics miscreants are NBC and the Today Show. Given two self-involved, irresponsible fools who break into the White House in order to become celebrities, the network and its morning show decide to make certain that their plan achieves its goal.  And if this motivates the next, slightly more unhinged would-be celebrity to do something more harmful to innocent people or the nation?  Hey, as long as the ratings are boffo, why should the Peacock Network worry about irrelevant issues like the President’s safety?

Rupert Pupkin lives.

Years ago, Major League Baseball decided that no matter how amusing it might be to the TV audience  to show the idiots who interrupted games by jumping out of the stands and streaking, cavorting, or kissing players, it just encouraged more people to do it, and with escalating boldness. Eventually someone was going to get hurt, so the sport stopped putting these people on camera. It was the responsible thing to do.

This is obviously how the broadcast media should handle people like Octomom and the White House party crashers. But NBC and their ilk have yet to develop the level of ethical sensitivity possessed by professional sports.

And that is about as low as you can go.